“You can't just make an accessory, slap it onto a weapon or piece of armor, and consider it a completed product.” Erhard said.

“I didn't do that. I embedded it...”

Erhard laughed. “Yes, you attached them well. I doubt I could get the gems off without damaging the things they are attached to. They are still attached, no matter how they are attached.”

“But...”

“A weapon or piece of armor needs to be made with the gem in mind, as if a piece is missing, and it needs to be filled with that enchanted gem.” Erhard said and placed Raphtalia's blade on the counter and one of his on the counter beside it. “Now, look at them and tell me the differences.”

I used the Force and touched both. When I touched Raphtalia's, I felt the blade and the gem with the enchantment. When I touched his blade, I felt an enchanted blade. The gem was there; but, it wasn't coming up as a separate entity like on my work.

“Well, damn.” I said and ran my hand over both blades. “Yours was made as a single entity. Either with a slot already in place or the magic technique you used was much better than the one I used.”

Erhard grinned at me and slapped my shoulder. “That took almost no time at all for you to understand! I expected at least another hour and several examples to prove that! Ha ha!”

“Teach me how to do it right, Sensei.” I said and bowed respectfully.

Erhard laughed and nodded. “You should send your party somewhere to stay while we work. This could take a while.”

“Agreed.” I said and changed my shield to show an hourglass. “Anyone that doesn't want to wait around and be bored, you can either jump back to the farm tower or go shopping and walk back.”

They all touched the shield and I sent them to the farmhouse tower. Erhard's mouth dropped open from shock.

I changed my shield back to the Crystal Shield. “I assume we're going in the back?”

Erhard just nodded and went into the back. I used the Force to put up the closed sign and locked the door, then I followed him into the back and we started the very important lessons about creating weapons and armor properly. It was quite enlightening to watch Erhard create a sword with a distinct hole in the middle while he imbued it with magic.

I had provided one of the many magic crystals we had gathered at the Alchemist's Cave and he literally formed the sword around the space the gem would go. I was using the Force to 'watch' him do it all and I eventually came to the conclusion that he was creating an empty receptacle to be filled with the power source.

I finally clued into the process when Erhard took the gem near the end of the forging process and added it to the sword. It seemed to accept the thing as a part of itself and then formed around it to cover and protect it as it hugged it and held it.

Erhard enchanted it with the same things I had given Raphtalia's sword, essentially powering it up. The new blade had triple the stats. He also added the ability to expand the stats slightly if it was used effectively in battle. The adaptability was a wonder to behold.

“Now do you understand the difference?” Erhard asked.

“I do.” I whispered as plans and designs filtered through my head and not just for swords and armor. Oh, no. Thanks to Erhard's technique, I was sure I had just figured out how to add a different power source to my electronics. It would just take a lot of experimenting and reworking to get it to work without blowing up.

“Good! Show me that you do.” Erhard said and stepped back as he handed me a big piece of metal.

“I don't need to do it the long way, thank you.” I said and used the Force to bring Raphtalia's blade into the back room from out front and hovered it in front of me. I concentrated on it and transfigured it into the right design.

The gem seemed to disappear inside the thing and Erhard stared as I converted the charge inside to change the enchantments to what I wanted them to be, and not what I had previously thought they should be. It almost sang as I did so and started to brightly glow.

Erhard had to squint at the glow that encompassed the blade. “What did you do?”

“Thanks to you, I fixed it.” I said and eased the blade into my hands with the Force. It almost seemed alive as I observed it. I nodded at the thing and held it out to Erhard.

Erhard examined it and he let out a low whistle. “Damn. I don't know how you did it; but, you did it.”

I nodded and accepted the blade back before I stored it and started to walk away. “I've got a lot of work to do.”

“Wait!” Erhard said and I stopped walking. “You don't think that's all I have to teach you, do you?”

“What other secrets do you have that could help me?” I asked.

“I... well...” Erhard looked a little shy. “I've been looking for someone to take over the place when I retire...”

“Oh. I'm sorry.” I said and walked over to him. “As soon as the waves are defeated, I'm going back home. I have no choice there, my friend. Even if I did accept your offer, I couldn't complete it.”

“It could take years to defeat them.” Erhard said.

“No, I don't think so.” I said with a smile. “You see, I have a much better plan than just surviving the waves until they overwhelm us.”

Erhard actually looked nervous. “What are you planning to do?”

“I don't want to jinx it, my friend.” I said and clapped him on the shoulder. “It's going to be something that no one expects, that you can be sure of.”

“I somehow knew you were going to say that.” Erhard said.

“If I come across anyone that wants to take up forging and armoring as a job, I'll direct them right to this shop.” I said and walked over to the door. “Thanks for everything.”

Erhard looked really nervous now. “You sound like you're not going to come back.”

“It all depends on what happens during this wave.” I said with a knowing smile and left the back room. I put Erhard's other blade back into the case he took it from and then opened up the front door. I wasn't sure if he wanted it left open, then remembered it was the middle of the day. He wouldn't want too many people to see him closed so early, so I left it open.

I made my way over to the magic shop and the witch was quite happy to see me. “I was wondering if you knew how to make magical clothing that doesn't disappear when someone transforms.”

The witch's eyes lit up. “Yes, I do!” She said, excitedly... then she sighed. “However, my magic spinning wheel needs a new powered gem. Mine is cracked and it won't work without being replaced.”

“Is that so?” I asked and smiled at her. “What kind of deal can we do if I replace the crystal for you?”

The older witch cackled a laugh. “If you help me obtain another crystal, I'll teach you how to spin magic thread and then how to weave it into cloth that any tailor can make into clothing for you.”

“What if the clothing is for someone else?” I asked.

“Then they have to spin the thread to imbue it with their magic. You can still weave it.”

“Excellent!” I said and pulled a magic crystal the exact size out of my pocket. “Here you are.”

The older witch stared at the thing and then looked at my face like I had cheated her.

“I already heard rumors about the Alchemist's Cave and went there, only to find the main part was already done by the Spear Hero. After my party dealt with the creatures deeper in the cave, we harvested a bunch of these in case we needed them for enchanting and to sell.”

“Oh, I thought...”

“I was tempted to offer to repair your old one; but, a new one would be better, wouldn't it?” I asked and put two more onto her counter. “Here are a couple of replacements to save you from having to go all that way to get another one when that one eventually wears down and breaks on you.”

The older witch smiled warmly. “Thank you very much for being so considerate, Shield Hero.” She said and went to pick them up, then gave me a questioning look.

“No, they are not copies.” I said and took out a sack to show her I had a lot of them. “I've been using them in enchanting swords and armor pieces.”

“Imbuing them as power sources, are you?” She asked and I nodded. “Good for you! I'm glad someone is taking up old Erhard's business.”

“No, I can't. I'm leaving when the waves end.” I said and she looked sad. “I was taken from someone I love very much. I need to get back to her as soon as possible, which means I need to end these waves as soon as possible.”

“You... are going to... end the waves.” The older witch whispered.

I nodded and stored the sack of gemstones. “That's my ultimate goal. My other goals are to make my party max level and to arm them with weapons that no one else can ever oppose. They will be the most powerful beings on this world when I'm done.”

She just stared at me and didn't say anything.

“Let's get one of these stones installed and you can show me what to do.” I prompted her.

She nodded and took me into the backroom to give me lessons on the spinning wheel and something called a loom that weaved the threads together into a long piece of cloth. Not only was it educational, I gained copies of everything as well.

“Thank you very much for teaching me this art of your craft.” I said as I took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“You are quite welcome, Shield Hero.” The older witch said with a blush.

“Have a great day.” I said and left her shop. Once I was outside, I changed my shield to show the hourglass and thought about my connection to Filo. I jumped to just inside a bedroom and heard talking from under the lumpy blankets on the bed. I didn't want to interrupt her, so I jumped to just outside the farm tower and entered. I was almost immediately tackled by Wyndia and had my face licked.

“Lunch!” Wyndia exclaimed and dragged me into the kitchen.

I chuckled and set about making lunch for everyone.

Once everyone was fed and watered, I jumped back to the Ryute Village tower and went out to the wagon. It had all my crafting things inside, so I added a spinning wheel and a loom. I created a copy of Filo and had her make a bunch of thread for me to use, then I dismissed her and created a bunch of cloth for a tailor to alter and create clothing from.

Of course, now that I thought about it, I had a couple of people that could use magical cloth. I created a copy of Lept the rabbitman and he made me a bunch of thread and then I did the same with a copy of Iris. She burned up underclothing with her sword powers, so after I fixed her sword, she would definitely need clothing magically bound to her that could survive the flames.

Once I had them made, I decided I might as well do up bundles of cloth for everyone and have outfits made for them, too. When I had all twelve cloth bundles, all marked for the individual they were created for, I stored them and popped back into the city and went to Erhard's friend's shop. She was the one to help with the kids, their clothing, and their under-armor clothing when they were growing up.

“Welcome, Shield Hero.” The woman with glasses said as I entered her shop.

“I have some magical cloth that I need made into a cute dress for a ten year old girl with wings on her back.”

The woman had a huge smile on her face. “Custom magical clothing? I'd love to work with that!”

I smiled and held a hand out to create a piece of wood and then transfigured it instantly to look like a replica of Filo in her girl form. “This is what she looks like.”

The woman's eyes danced as she saw the thing. “Yes, I will definitely enjoy this project.” She said and walked around the counter to approach me. “Let's talk styles and colors.”

*

Filo was having a ball hanging out with her friend Melty. She had already promised that her master would visit to give her a bathroom like the one at the tower and they had taken a nap in bed. Or tried to. They ended up giggling and chatting about everything that had happened since they met, which was a lot.

Melty had even included some of it in the messages she had sent to her mother with an odd woman wearing a mask and a veil. That woman had warned Melty to be careful of conspiracies and to not be left alone with her new guards. Melty sighed and asked why the woman didn't just take care of them for her.

“Because some events need to play out.” The woman said a bit cryptically before she disappeared into the shadows.

Filo watched as the woman snuck out of the room and didn't tell Melty that she could see the woman after the spell she had cast to hide. She was sure that she shouldn't be able to see such things and would have to talk to her master about it.

“Let's go back to my room.” Melty said and they left her mother's private quarters to go back to her own. The two new guards were there and followed them. Now that she was looking for it, she could see the tension in their movements and their shifting eyes, as if they were about to be caught doing something.

“LOOK!” Filo gasped when she saw a white fluffy dress on the princess' bed.

“I wonder who left that here?” Melty asked and slammed the door in the faces of the new guards. The two girls ran over to the bed and a large note was on top.

“Dear Filo. Here's a magical dress for you to wear. It won't pop apart when you change. It also has holes in the back for your wings, so you no longer have to wear a smock all the time. Hansen.” Melty read.

Filo gasped and picked the thing up, admired the white fluffiness and the bright blue accents, then she hugged it tightly. “I love you too, master.”

“He didn't write that.” Melty said.

“He didn't have to.” Filo said. “Can you help me change? I've never worn a dress before.”

“Sure.” Melty said.

Filo shrugged off the basic smock and Melty saw that she didn't have any underwear on.

“Filo, you... um... need...”

Filo must have known what she meant, because she opened up the dress and reached inside to pull out a blue pair of underwear and a pair of soft boots. Melty nodded happily and they worked together to show Filo how to put the dress on and how to fasten it properly.

“I look so pretty!” Filo gasped when she looked into the big standing mirror.

“It looks very royal.” Melty admitted and then gasped when another thing appeared on the bed with another note. “Filo, you don't have to wear the dress all the time. Here's a nightgown for you to relax in and I'll have a few other outfits ready for you by the time the wave starts. Hansen.”

“You see? I told you he loved me!” Filo said and hugged the nightgown that was all white and a little fluffy.

Melty nodded and successfully hid her envy. She wished her father had been that attentive when she was younger. He had been so busy with everything that he hadn't had the time to be the father he should have been. It explained how Malty had turned out so badly, being a constant liar and a manipulator. At least, she used to be like that. Her attitude had changed completely after their father's faked death.

“Let's get you changed and we can have the kitchen send us up some food for supper.” Melty said.

No sooner had she said that when a table with a large roast beast and a plate with a more moderate meal appeared at the side of the bed. There was another note and she was almost reluctant to read it.

“Dear Melty.” Melty read out loud and had to stop and take a breath to calm herself. “I'm sorry for the imposition of having to feed Filo, so I'll send over food to not inconvenience either you or the castle staff. Please enjoy the meal and dessert will be along shortly. Your friend, John.”

“I hope it's cake this time!” Filo said and quickly stripped off the nice and expensive dress and put on the nightgown. “He makes the best desserts!”

“He really does.” Melty whispered as she folded the note and tucked it into her bodice. The heavy parchment was warm against her chest and she sorely wished that there was a chest there for it to rub against.

It was the first time she had felt envy for her older sister for having a chest and a slightly curvy body to match. Her thoughts went to her mother, whom Malty looked like, and she sighed. She refused to be envious of her mother, mainly because she was her mother and she loved her.

“Let's eat!” Filo said and sat her down on one of the chairs, put Melty's hands over the plate to protect it, then Filo changed into her big bird form with a burst of feathers. She chomped down on the large roast and chewed on it for several moments before she swallowed it.

Melty didn't comment about the mess Filo had made, because she now had access to a pile of filolial feathers and she wasn't going to complain about that. She ate the delicious food on the plate and she regretted that the castle cooks would never achieve such delectable heights that the Shield Hero could do with barely a swish of a cooking utensil.

When she was done, Filo let out a squawk as a triple layer magical fruit cake appeared in front of her and Melty had a plate with two pieces on it.

“What is the fluffy white stuff on top?” Melty asked as she tentatively touched it with the fork that had appeared.

“It's called whipped cream and it's the most delicious thing ever!” Filo said and her tongue darted out and licked off the whole top from her large cake. “MMM! I could eat it all the time!”

Melty put the forkful into her mouth and she gasped.

“I told you!” Filo said and tossed the whole cake into her mouth and chewed on it. “Sho goosh!”

Melty used her fork to take some cream and the cake as well, then tasted it. Her mouth jumped for joy at the sensations and flavors and she had to clamp her mouth closed to stop her moan. It was a bit too unladylike for her to express herself so. When she finished the first piece, another appeared and she sighed.

“Does he want me to become fat?” Melty asked and stared at the second dessert.

“Maybe he thinks you're going to grow like Raphtalia and the others if he feeds you more?” Filo asked.

Melty caught her breath at the thought and then dug into the dessert with a passion. If there was even a slim chance she would grow from eating his food, she was going to take it!

Filo changed back and her nightgown hadn't exploded and was still on her. “It worked!”

“Hmm?” Melty asked as she licked the last of the whipped cream off of her lips.

“My nightgown! It didn't disappear!”

“Check your underwear and your feet, too.” Melty suggested.

Filo lifted the nightgown and saw the blue panties were still there, as were her soft boots. “Yep! They're still there!”

“That's a relief.” Melty said and stood up. “I wonder what we should do with the table and chairs?”

Almost as soon as she said that, the table, chairs, plates, and silverware disappeared.

“Well, that's convenient.” Melty said and took Filo's hand. “Let's climb back into bed and you can tell me more about the Shield Hero.”

“Okay!” Filo said and the two friends did just that. Many giggles and blushing faces followed.

*

I sat on the bed and was quite happy with how the day had turned out with my lessons and the things I had learned and done. The happy women in front of me made it all the better as the three of them lapped, licked, and sucked on my prominent erection.

Apparently, getting expensive magical clothing had been a real turn-on for them and they were going to repay me for the gifts. I couldn't help but wonder what they were going to do when I fixed their weapons and armor and made them individual accessories the next day.

The next night, I was tied to the bed and had a wonderful time being pampered and seduced while also not having to do any movements at all. It hadn't been the first time I had let a woman do everything for herself; but, it was the first time three women had done it to me at the same time. We were all glad that Filo was not nearby to either see or hear what was going on. Raphtalia's raven had been blindfolded and silenced, too.

*

I went to the castle using my invisibility shield and easily found Filo and Melty playing in the gardens. I dropped the power and walked over to them. “Filo, it's time to go.”

“Already?” Filo asked and looked down at her dress. “I'm all dirty and...”

“I'll take care of it.” I said and used several cleaning spells on her and Melty to clean them and their clothing. “We have to get you armored up, too.”

“I can't fight very well in this form.” Filo said, sadly.

“I know. We can work on that after the wave. For now, I bought you these.” I said and held up a set of metal claws that should fit her big bird form.

“OOOO!” Filo yelled in appreciation.

“I knew you would like them.” I said and turned to Melty. “I'm leaving someone here to watch over you while the wave is happening, just in case.”

“No, you need all the help you can get.” Melty said.

“Don't worry, it's not a party member. They won't be transported when the rest of us are.” I said and nodded to the side of the gardens. A copy of Obi-wan Kenobi stood there and he had a heavily modified lightsaber on his hip. “No one will notice him and his only job is protecting you.”

Melty looked almost teary-eyed as she looked at him and then up at me. “Shield Hero, I can't accept...”

“So formal, Second Princess?” I asked with a smile. “You don't have to accept anything. He's here on my orders, not yours. It's for my own peace of mind. If you don't like it, you have to wait until after the waves to complain to me about it.”

Melty looked surprised, so I took the opportunity to scoop Filo up in my arms.

“See you later.” I said and popped up to Melty's bedroom to grab Filo's nightgown and then I popped us back to where the rest of the party was.

“Oh! The dress is beautiful!” Raphtalia exclaimed and the other women nodded as I put Filo down.

“It doesn't blow up, either!” Filo nearly shouted and then changed into her big bird form with a puff of feathers.

I caught the feathers and pulled them into one of my expanded pockets with the others. “Let's get you fitted with these things.” I said and she stayed perfectly still as I applied them to her large clawed feet.

Filo shivered when the enchantments kicked in. “I feel strong and fast!”

“You're going to feel faster in a minute.” I said and took out a very stylish hairpin in the shape of a pair of wings. “Change back, please.”

Filo lifted one of her feet and pointed at it with a wing.

I chuckled. “Try it.”

Filo changed back to her humanoid form and gasped when the large clawed things changed into a pair of armored boots.

“I learned a lot about using intentions to create items.” I said and Raphtalia gathered up Filo's long blonde hair for me. I slipped the hairpin into the mass to hold her hair back from her face.

“That looks perfect.” Raphtalia said as she let the hair go and it fluttered around Filo's shoulders.

“OH!” Filo gasped as the Agility Max Boost enchantment kicked in.

“Now you're ready.” I said and pet the top of her head. “Stay near Raphtalia and protect her. There's going to be a lot of enemies this time.”

“Okay!” Filo agreed.

“How much time do we have?” Lupin asked.

I took out the small hourglass and read the popup. “Barely ten minutes.”

“Do you think the others will be ready for this?” Lept the rabbitman asked.

“We sent messages yesterday, so they better be.” Iris said. “Unless they changed their minds about fighting.”

“They might after this wave.” I said and everyone nodded. I had warned them exactly how many enemies would be coming, the variety, and about the extra dangers.

“At least the shield for the village won't drain you completely this time.” Raphtalia said.

“You've all worked very hard for me.” I said and gave her a kiss. “I appreciate it. I really do.”

“We know you do.” Lept said and touched the spot where his slave mark used to be. “I didn't even feel it disappear.”

Lupin the werewolf growled a little. “He still won't tell me when he removed it.”

That made nearly everyone laugh, because it was such an annoying thing for the werewolf to not know.

“I'll tell you after this wave.” I said and he nodded. “Everyone be careful. This is going to be a hard fight, even for us.”

“We've got this.” Iris said and made a fist with her free hand and her sword burst into bright red and blue flames as it flowed up her arm and covered part of her chest. “None of them will be allowed to live.”

“Just remember your training.” I said and she nodded.

“Disable them and then go for the kill when you're able. Don't be distracted by scary things because we are scarier than them. No mercy.” Iris said and everyone nodded.

“Two minutes.” I said and put the small hourglass away. “Good luck. I'll watch over you for as long as I can.”

“John.” Raphtalia whispered.

“I know, and I'm sorry. It's the best way.”

Raphtalia sighed. “It will definitely get attention if you manage it.”

“If?” I asked with a smirk and the others laughed softly.

“Just... please...”

I hugged her and kissed her. “You know you're the primary.” I said and let her go. “Three... two... one.”

We all disappeared from in front of the farm tower and reappeared near Ryute Village. The other three legendary heroes appeared with their parties, as did the small group of soldiers and adventurers that had agreed to come after the last wave.

I quickly handed out equipment and accessories to them, shocking them all, then the sky cracked open. “I gotta go! Take the fight to them!” I exclaimed and flew up into the air. I ignored the shouts of surprise from the non-party members as I flew over to the village and cast the protective shield and then I flew up to just above it and checked the image I had for the Monitor.

It was valid for a few seconds, then invalid for one, then valid again. I created him when it was valid and a copy of the purple bastard appeared in front of me.

“Uhhh... this... this is not...” The Monitor shook his head and looked at me. “My powers won't work right here, father. I am not meant to be here.”

The skies changed from white to red with blue swirling vortexes and the Monitor groaned.

“What's happening?” I asked and charged up my Lightning attack on the Thunder Storm Shield.

“An entity is... changing probabilities.” The Monitor said and clutched at his chest. “Things as they are... shouldn't exist. It goes against... nature.”

“Your original erased an entire reality because he thought me playing around made too much of a mess of things, even though the world was fine and had less conflict.”

“Then it wasn't... natural to be that way.” The Monitor said. “You must have changed... a fundamental aspect of reality... by mistake.”

“You wouldn't have any idea what that was, do you?” I asked and unleashed a very powerful Lightning attack on the mass of creatures and monsters.

“The one you hold... in your extra-dimensional prison from there... he was fated to become the balance... of multiple worlds.” The Monitor said.

“Oliver Queen?” I asked and laughed. “That arrogant ass couldn't even balance his own life. He killed indiscriminately for petty crimes and let others live that committed even worse crimes than him.”

“He would learn... eventually.” The Monitor said.

I laughed again and hit my shield as I changed it to the Assault Weapon Shield. I unloaded some automatic weapon fire into the masses that just kept coming and coming. After I killed a thousand of them, I changed the shield to a Plasma Shield. I tapped it from behind and a plasma beam the size of the shield came out and I walked it across the massive army.

Thousands more creatures died and I heard several shouts of thanks. I needed time to recharge, so I changed my shield to the Holy Relic Shield.

“I don't suppose releasing Oliver here would change things.” I suggested.

The Monitor shook his head and held a hand out. A hand-sized rock floated up and stopped between us. “This world... is an amalgam.” He said and put his hands on either side of the rock and pulled.

To my surprise, a dark grey rock and a brown rock formed and they were identical.

“Each of those is an amalgam.” The Monitor said and put his hands above and below the two floating rocks and pulled.

Once again, I was surprised when the grey rock split and became two identical rocks of black and nearly white, while the brown rock split and became two light brown rocks.

“Four worlds have been folded into this world.” The Monitor said let the rocks go.

They snapped together with a bright light and a surge of energy. When the light faded a second later, the original rock was there as if nothing had happened to it.

“As you can see, it can be energetic.” The Monitor said and looked down at my shield. He reached for it and I caught his hand.

“No.” I said and he gave me a questioning look. “I already know a few things about it and I've locked them in my head. Now that you've shown me the truth, a few other things are starting to make sense.”

The Monitor turned his attention to my party that was fighting hard below us. “They are not meant to be here.”

“Neither am I.” I said and he gave me a pointed look. “I took the place of the original person that was summoned here.”

The Monitor nodded. “My powers are still not working properly. I cannot 'exit' this world to return to my realm.”

“The realm of un-creation.” I said and he nodded. “It lets you monitor multiple realities, doesn't it?”

“Yes. Being here is painful for me.” The Monitor said.

I checked his abilities and they kept flickering between valid and invalid. “I'm not going to copy them like that. I could be torn apart or erased from existence.”

“Agreed. Constantly transitioning is not a good place to be.” The Monitor said and groaned in pain again.

“Is there anything you can tell me about how to handle this thing?” I asked and shot off a dozen sprays of hundreds of spikes with lightning charges.

They were only half as effective as they used to be.

“Damn, they're adapting.” I said and then huffed. “Or they are more spirit than physical and normal attacks are only half as effective because it's not hurting them as much.”

“Well reasoned.” The Monitor said. “I suggest you change tactics.”

I nodded and looked at my MP and SP numbers. “Damn, this is going to suck.”

“Perhaps releasing some of your other constructs will help you.” The Monitor suggested.

I gave him a pointed look and he smiled. “Fine. I'll think about everything you've said and if I can manage it, we'll talk again during the next wave.”

“Until then.” The Monitor said. “Goodbye, father.”

I dismissed him and I felt a huge surge of spiritual energy return to me as my SP total doubled. “Wow, I didn't expect that much of a drain was going on.”

I went over the things I had created. I let the farm tower dissolve and my SP points doubled again. I shook my head and dissolved the Ryute Village tower and my points doubled once more. Apparently, maintaining such huge constructs was a constant drain on my system. Either that or it was strengthening my SP use well beyond the normal limits.

With so much SP available to me now, I started creating the things I would need. A lot of them. When I reached five hundred of them twenty minutes later, my SP stat bottomed out and stopped working. I was also freezing my ass off.

“You are to absorb as many enemy creature souls as possible, which I know they have, because they are partially spiritual. I also need my SP stat back immediately.” I said to the five hundred Dementors I had summoned. “There are millions of enemies, so go have fun and don't eat any of the heroes, soldiers, or villagers.”

They all nodded and as one, floated down into the mass of creatures and started to feed. Their secondary effects were very pronounced as frost and ice covered everything, including the army of creatures. There was also a lot of screaming by both the creatures and the people fighting the army of enemies.

“That wasn't part of the plan!” Someone shouted.

“Sorry! Plans change! They'll be far enough away from you in a few minutes!” I shouted back and had to wait as my SP stat kept blinking at me.

When each of the Dementors had eaten ten creatures each, they split in two and became a thousand. My SP stat stopped blinking and started to regain points, now that the Dementors were self-sustaining. I flew down and saw most of my party was fighting near Iris as she produced a lot of warming flames and melted the frost and ice.

“You still have to kill the downed creatures.” I told them and they looked surprised at the mass of creatures laying down on the ground. “They're not dead, just drained of SP.”

Lupin cursed, which was a rare thing, then he started going back over the piles of creatures to tear their throats out. The others were soon following his example and started killing everything around them.

I floated back up as my SP refilled and my MP was full once more. I unleashed several more half-powerful attacks and the Dementors swarmed the hurt creatures. The combination was quite devastating to the army of enemies, both flying and crawling, because they couldn't escape the Dementors by fleeing.

After an hour, I checked my party's stats and they were all approaching the level cap of 100, so I knew this was the time to act. I flew at my best speed towards the very center of the conflict and found a large flying pirate ship. It was half-wrecked and the three heroes and their parties were on it, fighting the pirate captain and a giant octopus.

I had informed them to keep the status quo and they maintained the battle to let everyone level up, including themselves and their party. I was only slightly disappointed that they were barely half of my own current level of 86. The funny thing was, the old king had been right. I could not add them as a party member, even with copies of their legendary weapons inside my shield.

“Need a hand?” I asked as I landed in a classic superhero pose with my knee down and my fist punching the deck of the ship.

“Yes! We can't finish this boss off!” The Spear Hero said. “The captain...”

“The octopus.” The Sword Hero corrected.

“The ship!” The Bow Hero exclaimed.

“You're all right and wrong.” I said and switched my shield to the seismic scanner from Aliens. Thanks to the magic gem powering it, it could detect anything using MP or SP power that moved. “In the shadows there.” I said and pointed.

Three energy blasts and four magic beams and fireballs hit the spot. The soul creature screamed and popped out. It was a large white thing and the popup said it was a soul eater.

“That thing has been giving the pirate captain and the octopus their souls back when you killed them.” I said and we all concentrated our attacks on the thing. It died and I discretely used the Force to cut pieces off of it and absorbed them into my shield to unlock the Soul Eater shield.

The three heroes and their parties quickly dispatched the captain and the octopus. The wave didn't end, though.

This was the pivotal moment. I thought and looked up into the sky as an elegant woman wearing a kimono appeared from the wave phenomenon and floated down towards us.

“Only one of you is worthy to be called a Hero.” The woman said as she approached.

I wasn't going to let this happen like I had read about, so I changed my shield to the basic one and flew up into the air towards her. Once more I ignored the started shouts of surprise and I flew up to stop in front of the woman.

She looked genuinely surprised. “How are you doing that?”

“There's a lot of things I can do.” I said and floated close to her.

“Stay back! We are enemies and I will defeat you!” She spat.

I ignored her and took her hand gently and bent over to kiss the back of it. “May I know your name?”

She still looked surprised. “You... may call me Glass.”

“I am the Shield Hero.” I said and pulled her close with the hand I held.

Glass let out a startled sound and seemed too surprised to react properly, just as I planned.

I embraced her tenderly as I looked into her eyes. “My name is John Hansen and I am very pleased to meet a beauty such as yourself.”

“Wh-wh-what?” Glass stammered.

“You're even the perfect height for me.” I whispered and leaned in to give her a soft and tender kiss. “There's about two hours left of the wave and I would very much like to spend it together with you. Unfortunately, I need to end it before more people are killed at the other sites.”

“Wh-wh-what?” Glass repeated.

“Perhaps you would like to stay with me here until the next wave opens?” I asked as I let her go and pointed my shield at the pirate ship and tapped the back of it. “Plasma Beam. Soul Devourer.”

An unholy scream tore through the air as the bright plasma beam burned right through the ship and killed the second soul creature hiding in the shadows.

The heroes and their parties started yelling and screaming as the ship started to fall and break apart.

“Stasis.” I said and they all froze and the ship stopped in mid-air. It used up nearly half of my MP and SP points, too. It was a huge ship and it was coming apart, so it was understandable.

Glass stared at the thing and then looked back at me. “You...”

“Please, call me John.” I said and put my arms back around her and kissed her passionately. “Will you stay and let me treat you like a princess?”

“I... I... I... must defeat...”

“You've already defeated the defenses of my heart, dear lady.” I said and kissed her again as the sky started to change. “You must choose. Stay or go?” I asked and sent her a party invite.

Glass gave me a particular look that I couldn't decode. She pushed me off and floated up into the sky. “You are tricking me.”

I flew up after her. “No, I believe we have a lot in common. Persecuted for who we became.” I touched my shield and pointed to her fan. “Forced to suffer for the choices we've made of friends.” I said and she looked surprised. “The next time we meet, please talk to me. Let me get to know this beauty before me. Let me see you for who you really are.”

“No, I... I must fight for my world.”

“I know. Maybe we can do it together and we can save both worlds.” I stopped flying as I tried to copy her dimensional crossing ability and was warned that I couldn't copy an ability twice. Glass continued floating up into the sky and the look on her face as she faded away was full of confusion.

I flew down to where the damaged ship was and cast several charms on it, including making it lighter, hold together, and levitating it. I ended Stasis and floated the ship down to the ground and behind the mass of creatures that were still there fighting.

“Well, don't just stand there. Get fighting.” I said and changed my shield to the Thunder Storm Shield and unleashed another devastating Lightning Barrage attack at the backs of the creatures. It seemed much more effective with the wave over. That let me know that whatever power was messing with this world, they must have boosted the wave attack to be more effective.

The party members of the three heroes just stared at me.

“Or stand there.” I said with a shrug and flew off towards my own party. We had a lot of clean-up to do before we could head off to the next most populous spot. When I checked on the Dementors, they were up to about eight thousand and were still going strong.

It took another hour of hard fighting to clear up the area and everyone was fighting exhaustion. I quickly prepared some boosting food and added in pepper-up potions to restore everyone's energy levels.

When they were all fed and back in fighting shape, I checked them over and healed any injuries and repaired any damaged armor and weapons. I also checked my party status and saw the Dementors were counted as a single entity and smiled, because they would all be coming with us.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked and held out the small hourglass.

“I... I think I'm out.” One of the soldiers said. “Even with the boosts you gave, I nearly died a few times. I just... I don't want to leave my family so soon. Not like that.”

“That's understandable.” I said and pat him on the shoulder. “This is all volunteer. You fought hard today and you made it. If you don't want to fight anymore, no one will hold it against you.”

The man looked around and saw everyone's understanding looks. “Send me home.”

I changed my shield and held it out to him. “If anyone else wants to return to their families, you can do so now. Check and see if they are fine and if any of the masses of creatures made it past the blockade and into the countryside.”

“I'll alert the soldiers at the castle to do the same.” The man said and the soldiers and several of the adventurers touched my shield.

I sent them back to the Dragon Hourglass in the castle city. “This is going to take a while. Are you all sure you're sticking with us?”

The three heroes and their parties nodded.

“Great. Let's go. I have a feeling I'm going to be very busy healing a lot of people.” I said and we popped away to the next location.

After another long and gruelling fight, I was proven right. It was not always a good virtue.

*

It took two days to find and finish off the unleashed creatures from the wave at all four sites, to heal everyone's wounds and damages, and to resurrect the dead. By the end, we were all weary, exhausted, and in need of some serious vacation. We were also quite chilled from all the frost and ice being produced by our companions.

The problem I had was what to do with the 64,000 Dementors that had been produced from consuming so many creatures. It wasn't until Raphtalia reminded me of having to put bad people in prison that an idea struck me. I kissed her as thanks and jumped back to the large and empty battlefield that used to be a wheat field. Instead of a wheat field as I had left it the last time, I converted the land into an island.

It was quite odd to see rough seas in the middle of a plains area; but, I needed the island for what I was going to do. I flew over to the island and landed on the very edge, then created a new Azkaban Prison. It changed the island and gave it the same enchantments and protections that the original had. Luckily, it did not release the prisoners I still had 'out of play'.

I checked to make sure it was suitable for occupation and expanded it on the inside, then I popped back to where the Dementors waited patiently. I explained that I made a home for them and they were going to have a lot more to eat soon. I asked them to not roam, because I didn't want people bothering them or trying to destroy them.

They all nodded and the one in front touched my shield. I popped them all away and everyone seemed to relax.

“How can you associate with such creatures?” One of the Spear Hero's party members asked.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I said as an explanation.

The young woman's mouth dropped open and a lot of the others looked at me.

I took out the small hourglass and flipped it over to indicate it was counting down to the next wave. “Let's go home.”

They all briefly touched the hourglass and then I popped us all back to the Dragon Hourglass at the Melromarc church. I had everyone check their levels and I had been right once more. They were all level 100 and unlocked their final class-up perk. The other heroes and their parties checked as well and I wasn't surprised when only a few had passed level 50.

We all left the church without being stopped by the nuns and priests and went our separate ways.

“I think I'm going to sleep for a week.” Raphtalia said as she hugged my arm and we walked out of the city. “Wait, why are we walking to the farm tower?”

“I had to destroy it to create the Dementors.” I said and she sighed. “The Ryute Village Tower as well.”

“What about all of our things?” Wyndia asked, worriedly.

“I saved the entire updated image with everything inside.” I said and she relaxed.

Filo changed into her human form and hopped up onto my back. “I want Melty here with us.”

“She's a princess and she needs to do princess things.” I said.

“She doesn't know we made it.” Filo countered and I sighed in defeat. “Thank you, master!”

I gave her a piggy-back ride as we walked to the farmhouse and through the rice field to the right spot by the river. I created the tower again and everyone went inside before I popped to the bedroom of the princess.

“Melty!” Filo exclaimed as she dropped to the floor.

We heard a splash from the bathroom and the door swung open to reveal a very naked and slightly bubble covered Melty as she stood there.

“Filo!” Melty exclaimed and the two friends ran at each other and hugged tightly. “I was so worried!”

“I missed you, too!” Filo said and the two rocked slightly.

“Go ahead and join her in the bath, Filo. I'll come back for you later.” I said and nodded to Obi-wan before I left Filo's nightgown on the bed and popped away. Hopefully, I left before Melty realized I was there and had seen her completely nude. I was sure to get an earful of yelling for it later if she did.

I went to my own bathroom and stripped off to join my bed-mates in the large tub. We scrubbed each other and had some light fun before going to bed, still completely naked, and fell asleep. Exhaustion was funny like that and could hit you harder when you ignored it for too long.

The next morning, I wasn't surprised when Obi-wan, Filo, and Melty showed up at the farm tower with several guards and a summons to the castle.

“After the last time I was at the castle and how that turned out, I told the Regent that I wouldn't report to anyone but the queen.” I reminded them.

“He doesn't want a report.” Melty said. “He just wants to talk.”

I gave her a searching look and she blushed. She didn't mention the bath incident from yesterday, though. “All right, I'll go on your recommendation.” I said and changed my shield to show an hourglass. “Touch this as we'll be right there.”

Melty, Filo, the guards, and Obi-wan touched it. I popped us right into the throne room and we heard several gasps. I glanced around and it was a full court with all the nobles, the three heroes, their parties, and the Regent surrounded by guards holding large shields.

I almost laughed at the unnecessary precautions. “All right, I'm here. What do you want?”

“Arrogance is not becoming of a true hero.” The Regent said. He wore a large overcoat to hide the money embedded in his chest.

“I could make a comment about that meaning none of your people are true heroes; but, I know that's too general of a statement. I've met quite a few true heroes in my travels and there are a bunch right here.” I nodded at the three heroes and their parties.

The men looked a little embarrassed and proud at the same time, while the women blushed a little at the praise and also looked proud.

The Regent scowled for a moment and then blanked his face. “Word of your deeds have reached us and I must admit that they are quite astonishing.” He said. “I asked you to appear here to confirm the rumors and the stories.”

“I can't conform or deny anything, especially since I don't know what you've all been told.” I said and he looked frustrated. “You can be reassured that I'm planning on getting a lot stronger for the next wave.”

“S-stronger?” Someone from the crowd gasped.

“How do you plan on doing that?” The Regent asked and leaned forward eagerly.

“Oh, I see how it is.” I said and glanced around to see everyone's eager faces, even on some of the adventures in the parties of the three heroes. “You invited me here to talk because you wanted me to reveal some of my secrets.”

“We are just having a friendly conversation.” The Regent said with a smile as he sat back with a little wave. “There's no need for you to be confrontational.”

I felt a wave of magic pass over me and I cast a Finite spell in return. The effect ended, to the Regent's surprise, and I pointed my finger at the source as my shield changed to the Thunder Storm Shield. A single lightning bolt shot out of my shield and hit the head mage in the face and exploded his head.

A lot of people started screaming, some because of the blood and brains on them, because the mage had been tucked into the crowd. Melty and Filo hugged my sides and were shouting at me to stop.

“QUIET!” I said with a Sonorus charm and everyone fell silent. “I will not have unwelcome magic cast upon me. It could disrupt the spell that brought me here.”

A flicker of something crossed the Regent's face.

“You want to disrupt my magic.” I said and he didn't react. “Why? What do you gain from it?”

“Revenge!” The man spat. “Your money is still buried inside me and I am in constant pain! If I can hurt you even a little bit in return, it's worth it!”

I sighed. “I did that to remind you to stop interfering with me. I could have just killed you.”

“Do that then!” The Regent spat and stood up to pull off his overcoat. His chest was uncovered and each of the money piece had bits of cloth sticking out from around them.

“You won't learn anything if I just eliminated you.” I said and used the Force to pull the money out slightly. He let out a shout of pain and dropped to his knees.

“John, please stop.” Melty pleaded.

“You shouldn't be defending him.” I said to her. “In fact, you shouldn't be defending your father, either. He was a horrible man and he followed his horrible daughter's instructions.”

“Malty's much better now.” Melty said.

“Yes, because it took my intervention to fix the problem.” I said and waved at the Regent. “He still hasn't repaid the money he stole from me.”

Melty's eyes went to the false wall over the damaged one. “He made a mistake...”

“...and he hasn't finished paying for it or even regrets that he did it.” I said and she opened her mouth to respond. I lightly touched her cheek to stop her. “He only regrets being hurt because of it, not for the act itself.”

“Please.” Melty whispered.

I gave her a sad look and waved my hand at the man. The Regent shouted in pain as the dozen silver coins pulled out of him and dropped to the floor.

“Thank you.” Melty said and smiled at me.

“I hope you realize this means I'm never coming back to the castle.” I said to her and she gasped. “I won't respond to any summons, requests to talk, or even if they lie and promise reparations.”

“It won't be a lie if I promise it.” Melty said.

“Like today?” I asked her and she sighed. “You are too trusting of the wrong people, Princess.”

“Like you?” Melty asked.

“Especially me.” I said and changed my shield back to an hourglass. “If your leaders are so corrupt that they allow things like this to happen, then I will no longer help Melromarc during the waves.”

“NO!” A bunch of the crowd yelled.

“John, don't do this.” Melty said as tears came to her eyes.

“I should have done it after the first time. Or the second.” I said and briefly wiped at her cheeks. “The third time is the last time and I'm leaving the country.”

“You... can't.” The Regent said as healers attended to him. “We summoned you.”

“That sounds suspiciously like you're claiming you own me.” I said with a warning tone in my voice.

“We do. The spell intrinsically links you to the country that summons you. When the wave starts, where you teleport to is the proof.”

I barked a laugh. “You are an idiot and a liar, because registering at the Dragon Hourglass does that. Whatever country you register at last will be where you teleport to. As soon as I'm in the next country and register at the hourglass, I will no longer teleport to this country.”

“You won't be allowed to cross our border.” The Regent said. “I rescind any and all travel permits and protections granted to you.”

“Then I'm glad that I honestly don't care about that.” I said and several people made startled sounds. “It was just a ruse to move around without having to pay travel taxes and to not be harassed by your soldiers when we entered other towns. Now that you've removed their protections, anyone trying to stop me will be maimed or killed.”

“NO!” More people shouted.

“John, don't do this.” Melty pleaded.

“Master, please!” Filo said and tugged on my arm.

“We're leaving Filo. If there's anything important you want to say to Melty, now would be the time.”

Filo started crying. “No! I don't want to leave her!”

I sighed and knelt in front of her. “I can't leave you here. They'll either make you a prisoner to control Melty or myself, or they could kill you to get revenge on me. I can't allow that.”

“But, I love her! She's my best friend!” Filo exclaimed.

“I know she is, sweetie.” I said and tried to hug her.

Filo darted around me and hugged Melty instead. “Don't let him take me away from you!” She shouted and cried in Melty's arms.

Melty had more tears in her eyes, too. “Filo, he's right. You can't stay.”

“No!” Filo cried.

“It's okay. I'll see you again soon.” Melty promised and rubbed her lower back.

Filo cried for another few moments before she reluctantly let her go. Her eyes filled with tears, she gave me an accusing glare as she touched the edge of the shield.

“How sickeningly touching.” The Regent said. “I am ordering the Three Heroes and their parties to hunt down the Shield Hero for treason against the country of Melromarc.”

“Good luck surviving here, Princess.” I said to her and nodded at Obi-wan.

“I will!” Melty exclaimed and darted her hand forward and touched the shield as I activated it.

We popped away from the throne room and reappeared in front of the farm tower.

Melty let the shield go and crossed her arms. “I absolutely refuse to cooperate with any action that sends me back to the castle, including teleportation, magic, flying, wagons, horses, filolials, mules, and any other kind of transport you can come up with.”

I opened my mouth to tell her goodbye and touched her with the shield to pop her back to the throne room... and nothing happened. I snapped my mouth closed and tried again. Nothing happened once more. I remembered the wording for accepting teleportation and they had to be willing to be sent. I let out a curse that neither Melty nor Filo had heard before and they both looked shocked.

“I wanted to avoid this and I fell right into it.” I said and rubbed my face as I felt something from the shield. I changed it back to the basic shield and sighed as I thought over what happened in the original story.

“We're going to have a hard time travelling without permits and permissions.” Melty said with confidence. “You're going to have to follow my instructions if you want to salvage any of this situation.”

I gave her a pointed look and she smirked at me. “You planned this.”

“Only this part and not what you did in the throne room. That was all you.” Melty said.

No, it wasn't. I thought and barely managed to not glare at the shield. “You might as well come inside while I give the good news to the others.”

“The good news?” Melty asked as we entered the tower.

“Yes, we get to leave this bad place and go where were not hated!” Filo said and hugged Melty.

“What? Where?” Melty asked.

“Siltvelt.” I said as we entered the living room and we were almost immediately swarmed with happy party members.

“It's true? We're leaving?” Raphtalia asked, happily.

“Yes. We'll be stopping by your hometown on the way.” I said and she hugged me and kissed me. “Pack up everything and I'll go get the wagon.”

“I don't have anything to take.” Melty said.

“You can help Filo.” Raphtalia said and ushered them out of the living room with everyone else.

I jumped over to Ryute Village and made myself invisible to pop the wagon and the horses away. There was a bunch of people looking at where the tower used to be and a few of them were quite sad. I popped over to the potions shop and restocked it with things, then popped back to the tower. I didn't have anything to pack, so I sat down on the couch and waited patiently.

It took two hours for everyone to pack up everything and we loaded it into the expanded wagon. Once that was done, I dismissed the farm tower and several of the women let out sad sounds. I didn't mention the sad people back in Ryute Village, because that wasn't going to help.

I had Lept drive and gave him new travelling papers and a different peddler's license. He took both sets of papers and we left the area for the last time. As if they knew, Marnie and Bill stood on their porch and waved to us as we left. We all waved back, thanked them for the hospitality, and drove off down the road into the countryside.

*

It took us nearly a month to cross Melromarc with the soldiers and the heroes hunting us. On the plus side, it gave me the chance to read the rest of Darcy's books and I didn't like what happened at all. It worked out in the end, kind of. I didn't want that particular end to happen, because it wouldn't get me back to Gloria. I would have to take a few preemptive steps soon.

We finally reached the demi-human territory inside Melromarc, to everyone's relief. Even with a Notice-Me-Not charm cast on the wagon, there were just so many people around in the populated areas of the villages and towns that someone would notice us and break the spell. Most of us would hide inside the wagon and not let ourselves be seen during those times.

I had tried to cast Illusions over the wagon a few times and it kept sucking out my magic points like pouring water down the drain. I wasn't sure why that was until Raphtalia pointed out that everyone was looking for us now and believed we were traitors. The bounty was getting pretty high, too.

“I'm almost tempted to turn myself in.” I joked and everyone gave me a pointed look. “What? That's a lot of money.”

Raphtalia nodded to Wyndia and she used her tail to whack me on the back of the head.

“Ow. Okay, I deserved that.” I said and pointed at a horseman wearing a red overcoat and a particular crest. “Is that the family crest you were looking for?”

“Yes!” Melty said and hugged my arm. “Lept, take a right and follow those men on horses!”

Raphtalia touched my other arm and gave me a pointed look.

“Just point and I'll take care of it.” I whispered to her.

Twenty minutes later, she pointed down a lane and whispered 'mansion'. I gave her a quick kiss, slipped Filo into the spot that Melty had hold of on my arm, and apparated out of the wagon and up high into the sky. I made myself invisible with the shield and flew at my best speed to where Raphtalia had told me to go.

I quickly came across a large mansion with demi-human servants and workers outside. They were worn down, wore rags, and were locked with shackles despite working at their jobs. I dispelled the slave crests and shook my head at the idiot for not mending his ways after the waves. I quickly used the Force to find him and went right into the mansion through the wall of his dining room.

The large fat man that sat at the dinner table was startled to see the wall crumble with nothing there, so he tried to snarl out an order to his slaves. I banished him to Azkaban Prison, the one I had created here in the world, and the demi-humans in the room didn't even flinch. I dropped the invisibility shield and that made them react.

“It's the Shield Hero!”

“He's come to rescue us!”

“Where did he go? I wanted to kill the fat bastard!”

“I sent him to prison.” I said.

They gave me incredulous looks.

“You can argue about his punishment later.” I said and waved my hand over them and cast healing spells as I opened their shackles and dismissed the slave crests. “Grab the keys from his pocket and go free the others from outside.”

“What about the ones in the basement?” The maid asked.

“I'll take care of them.” I said and they nodded and ran out of the room. I walked through the house to the basement door and entered it.

The walk was a short one and I stood outside the cells. Raphtalia's childhood friend was there, a dog-girl named Keel. She was also severely hurt, so I took a few minutes to heal her up and to remove the shackles and neck restraint as well as the slave crest.

Unfortunately, their friend had been dead for far too long and all that was left were bones. I used the Force to bundle her up in a ceremonial burial blanket and hugged her to my chest. I went to the other cells and used the Force to tear the doors off of the hinges. I also discreetly healed the other slaves and removed their crests, too.

“Thank you!” One of the other slaves said and ran off with the rest.

“Who're you?” Keel asked me.

“Someone that is sad they weren't summoned to this world in time to save Rifana.” I said and held a hand out to Keel. It was the arm with the shield on it.

Keel stared at the shield as she took my hand. “How did you know her name?”

“The same way I know yours.” I said and led her out of the cell. “I brought your other friend with me.”

“Raphtalia!” Keel exclaimed and tried to run.

I held on and eased her back to me. “She's going to Van Reichnott's and we'll meet her there.”

“Oh. Okay.” Keel said and we calmly walked out of the mansion. “What are you going to do about the master when he finds out you released us?”

“I already sent him to the darkest cell in the new prison.” I said and she looked surprised. “As for his mansion of horrors...” I turned us around and used the Force to grip it, then crushed it into a twenty foot wide ball of wood and stone. I dropped it into the now exposed basement and then tossed in a couple of plasma grenades that were charged with magic.

I walked towards the center of town as the basement was obliterated into several craters, which removed all evidence of the house and the crimes committed within. I didn't bother hiding who I was as I walked and the demi-humans cheered for me and the humans all looked afraid. I glared at the humans and they let out startled sounds, so I laughed and walked over to the sealed stone.

“You can't touch that!” Someone shouted. “It has one of the most dangerous creatures sealed inside!”

“I know. The old heroes couldn't defeat it, so they sealed it away.” I said and touched it with the Force. “Keel, can you hold Rifana for me, please? I need my hands free for this part.”

Keel nodded and carefully took the bundle of remains from me.

“Thank you.” I said and put my hand on the stone as I created some blood and dropped a point of magic into it. “With blood and power, I release you.”

The stone lit up brightly and started to crack, then it shattered and a 60 foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex with Dragon Parts appeared. People started screaming and it looked around, interested.

“Ignore them. I'm your opponent.” I said calmly and touched it with the Force. “Not that you're much of one. Or will be, I mean.”

“RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRRR!” The magically modified T-Rex roared.

“Yeah, scary.” I said and held up my shield as I tapped the back of it. “Shield Prison. Aegis Formation. Iron Maiden.”

The T-Rex was suddenly surrounded by metal shields and chains that pulled together to create a solid ball. The ball shifted from the normal state into perfectly formed interlocking white shields, then a giant white Iron Maiden appeared in the sky. The ball was sucked up inside and the Iron Maiden closed without trouble.

It glowed bright white for several moments and then dissolved away. The dead body of the T-Rex dropped down from the sky and landed at my feet. Not surprisingly, all the screaming stopped and there was complete silence in the town's square.

“Like I've been telling everyone. I'm going to surpass the legend of the old heroes.” I said and used the Force to tear open the T-Rex and grabbed the Dragon Emperor Core Crystal. I added it to the shield and then added some bone, flesh, blood, and horn. I unlocked the Dragon Emperor Shield and it absorbed the Dragon Heart Shield I had previously unlocked. Most of the options were the same between them.

Everyone around us were stunned at what they had just witnessed.

I stored the remains into my storage and took the bundle back from Keel. “Let's go.”

Keel beamed a smile at me and proudly took my hand. We walked out of the square with our heads held high and no one tried to stop us, not even the couple of soldiers that surely had orders to arrest me.

Once we were out far enough, I covered us in invisibility cloaks and silenced our feet. I didn't want anyone following us and had deliberately walked in a different direction from where I wanted to go. I circled back around and went the proper way and we had a nice stroll along the road.

Keel must have been anxious to ask me questions because she started talking right away. “You're really the Shield Hero?”

“I am. The shield on my arm kind of gives it away.” I joked and felt a slap on my arm.

“And Raphtalia's okay?” Keel asked and ignored my joke.

“She is and she's even grown up a little.” I said and didn't say by how much, because I wanted it to be a surprise. “I think she's going to be very happy to meet you.”

“And sad.” Keel said.

I didn't ask her to clarify, because the reason was being carried inside a bundle on my arm. I also knew to not say why the body was just bones after such a short time. Any food was a very difficult thing to ignore when you were starving.

It took us a while to reach Van Reichnott's manor and Keel had asked me all about my party, travelling, and the adventures I had. I tried to not make it sound like fun; but, they didn't call them adventures for no reason. By the sound of her voice, she had enjoyed hearing about it all.

I didn't take off the cloaks until we were inside the manor home and Raphtalia gasped when she saw us.

“KEEL!” Raphtalia yelled and ran over to us to scoop the little girl up into her arms.

Keel looked shocked at the woman holding her, until she reached up to touch Raphtalia's ears and then looked at her tail. “It's really you? But, you're so big!”

“You better not be calling me fat!” Raphtalia joked and the both of them laughed.

“I found her and several other slaves in that place. I freed them and destroyed the house.” I said.

Raphtalia hugged Keel tightly and nodded to me.

“I also brought this for you.” I said and indicated the bundle in my arms.

“What is it?” Raphtalia asked as she put Keel down and turned to me.

“It's... it's Rifana.” Keel whispered.

Raphtalia started crying immediately and tried to open the burial cloth.

I caught her hands with the Force and whispered. “You don't want to see her this way.”

“I... I have to see.” Raphtalia whispered back.

“No, you don't.” I said and caressed her face. “Let the image in your mind be that of her when you knew her and not the remains left behind.”

“J-John, let me see.” Raphtalia said, her voice stern and tears pouring out of her eyes.

I released her hands and she dug at the cloth. When she opened it up, she cried that much harder and hugged the bundle as much as she could without destroying it. I put my free arm around her and rubbed her back as she relived her time with her childhood friend and how they had ended up.

By this time, all of the women were crying and the men looked uncomfortable. I was right there with them, because this was exactly what I wanted to avoid. We couldn't afford to let grief and sadness bog us down. I also couldn't order them to not grieve or comfort Raphtalia. That would just be cruel. So, I stood there and did my best to support her as she dealt with it in her own time.

An hour later, Van Reichnott spoke. “There is a large gathering of demi-humans in the street outside.”

I sighed. “Dammit, why did they have to come here? They're going to bring the soldiers.”

“It's because I am sympathetic to their cause. If anyone in this territory was going to hide the legendary Shield Hero, it would be me.” Van said with a self-depreciating smile. “You are their patron saint, after all.”

“Is anyone else keeping demi-human slaves inside this supposedly protected territory?” I asked.

Van sighed. “There are a couple...”

“Names and locations, please.” I said and he looked reluctant to speak. “I'll only be putting them in prison... or better yet, I'll switch the slave crests from their slaves onto them.”

That made all the members of my party make startled sounds.

“Relax. I told you all that I was more of a slave than any of you were.” I said and they sighed in relief.

Van gave me the names and locations, albeit reluctantly.

“I... I want to take her home.” Raphtalia said, her entire face wet from crying so much. “To bury her.”

“We'll head there right now.” I said.

“I doubt you're getting by the crowd outside. Not without hurting someone, anyway.” Lupin said.

“I think it will be easier to give them what they want.” I said and wrapped the bones back up and gave the bundle to Raphtalia to hold. “Everyone back to the wagon.”

“But, they want you.” Wyndia said and her tail wasn't wagging.

“No, they want the Shield Hero. There's a huge difference.” I said and lightly caressed her cheek. “I'll walk ahead and calm them down.”

“I don't know how.” Van Reichnott said.

“It's really easy. I'll give them what they wanted ever since it was taken from them.” I said and walked out of the mansion's lobby and went outside.

“Their freedom?” Van asked.

“No, the means to take revenge and then I'll give them homes to return to.” I said as the front door shut behind me.

The large crowd yelled and hollered when they saw me. Some cheered, some pleaded for help, some were just shouting because they could. I was apparently a convenient excuse to get out and make a ruckus, so I walked calmly to the front gate and the ones in front reached through the bars with hands outstretched.

I smiled at them and then floated up into the air. Nearly all of them fell silent as I flew up and over the closed gate and floated above them.

“Savior!” “Shield Hero!” A few of them shouted at the same time.

“There are a lot of you, so I'll need a bit of time to help you all. If you could moved away from the gate and allow a wagon to pass, I promise to help in any way I can.” I said and nearly everyone moved back from the gates to clear the path.

“Shield Hero, you're under arrest for treason against the country of Melromarc.” A soldier said and motioned to several other guards with bows ready. “Come quietly or...”

The soldiers were immediately pounced upon by a dozen demi-humans and pounded into unconsciousness.

I used the Force to stop them from being killed. “Thank you for saving me from the idiots.”

That made a bunch of them laugh and they stepped away from the group of soldiers on the ground.

I moved them off into a nearby field with the Force and discreetly healed the worst injuries. “Now, let's get you people sorted. Who only wants to talk to me and meet me?”

Several of them raised their hands.

“To the right, please.” I said and they moved over. “Who wants me to give them money or to take them away from here?”

A bunch more put up their hands.

“Off to the left, please.” I said and they did so. “Which of you wants revenge on their masters?”

A handful of the remaining crowd put up their hands.

“Some couldn't get away from them to see you!” Someone shouted.

“It's all right. I have the names and locations. I'll be visiting them and will be freeing them.”

The crowd let out cheers.

“What is it the rest of you want?” I asked.

“I want to have your babies!” One woman shouted, which was quickly joined by several others in the other groups.

“I'm sorry, I'm already spoken for.” I said.

That made them go quiet and then whispering broke out.

“Who did you choose?” Someone asked. It sounded like a male voice.

I was reluctant to only say Raphtalia, because the crowd seemed a bit hostile. So, the truth it would have to be. “At the moment, I have four women sharing my bed.”

A collective sigh came from them and that was not the reaction I had expected.

“You are a good summoned being, Shield Hero.” A different man's voice said. “The rulers in Silvelt will be pleased.”

“I'm not sure I understand.” I said as I feigned ignorance.

“The Shield Hero is our patron saint. It is because of your predecessor that our nation became strong enough to resist the humans and their disgusting slave practices.” The man said and he stepped forward. He looked like a part lion. “Because of our dwindling numbers, we were forced to adopt the practice of multiple wives to ensure the continuation of our people.”

I blinked my eyes at that for a moment. “I'm not sure why that surprises me.”

The man laughed, as did a few others. “I assume you're travelling to Siltvelt to get away from persecution?” He asked and I nodded. “Then several of us would like to join you on your journey.”

Two women and another man stepped forward. I wasn't surprised that they were the front of the group that had pummelled the soldiers.

I waved at the gates and they opened to allow my wagon to exit. “I won't invite you inside, as we don't know each other yet.”

“That is fair.” The man with lion features said.

“As for those wanting money and to come with me, we'll be going to Lurolona Village to update it and to give homes to all demi-humans that want one.” I said and the crowd to the left cheered. “Those wanting to only meet me, I'll land and greet you all for twenty minutes.”

The crowd on the right cheered.

“Those wanting revenge, I'll have to talk to you personally and get the details. I'll either do it for you or help you do it yourselves.”

The small crowd let out happy growls and other sounds.

“I'm sorry I can't do anything about the baby thing. I usually need to get to know someone before sleeping with them.” I said and a few women blushed.

“He actually wants to know the members of his harem. He's such a gentleman.” One of the women said and the others nodded.

“He's going to be very popular.” One of the others said this time everyone nodded.

“Is that everyone's problems identified?” I asked and they nodded again. “All right.” I created another wagon and dissolved mostly everything inside that was personal, like my workstations and any items my party had inside.

Lupin, Hopps, and Lept hopped out of the front wagon and the demi-humans gasped.

“They're just hooking up the new wagon to the back.” I said and it didn't change the crowd's disposition. “What is it?”

“You have two actual beastmen in your party.” The lion man said.

“Yes, and they are Level 100 like the rest of my party members.” I said and that made all of the crowd gasp.

“You truly made them that powerful in so short of a time?”

“The waves increase in level and power depending on the heroes fighting it.” I postulated. “The last wave had millions of creatures. If even only one experience point is earned for each one, that's still a lot of experience.”

“They weren't only one point, were they?” He asked.

“No, not even close.” I said with a smile. I didn't tell him that my Dementors gave me experience points as well. In fact, they still were. I wasn't sure if it was because of the prisoners or because people were going onto the fog covered island uninvited. Either way, it was free experience and my level very slowly climbed from the constant influx.

I came in for a landing near the people that wanted to meet me and I was immediately swarmed by everyone and not just them. I knew who had asked to only meet me, so I went to each one and greeted them and had a little chat, which pleased them immensely. It was all that they wanted and it was such a small thing for me to grant that I did it with enthusiasm.

“Remember, if you change your mind, you are always welcome to come to Lurolona Village. You will have a home and food. What you do with yourselves after that is up to you.”

“You're not going to make us your slaves too, are you?” A man's harsh voice asked.

Sounds of surprise came from everyone and they turned to look at me with questions and accusations on their faces.

“If you're referring to the members of my party that have chosen to keep their slave crests to maintain an even closer relationship with me, then the answer is no. I rescued them from a slave trader, healed them, and trained them.”

“Your own personal army.” The lion man asked.

“No, they are my friends.” I said and a few people scoffed. “Most of them didn't even realize I had released them from their slave contracts months ago, because I never treated them like slaves.”

“He treats us all like family.” Lupin said from behind the lion man and everyone jumped and backed away from him.

“How did you do that?!?” One of the women of the four asked.

“Trade secret.” Lupin said and walked over to me. “We're ready to leave, Hansen.”

“Thanks, Lupin.” I said and clapped his armored shoulder. “Help those that want to come with us onto the second wagon and let them know the schedule for meals and stops.”

Lupin nodded and turned to the crowd. “If you're coming with us, follow me.”

“What about my family?” Someone asked.

“Give me the details and they will be retrieved. We will pass by your residences to gather your belongings as well.” Lupin said and a lot of very happy people followed him.

I ignored the shouts of surprise from the people climbing into the back of the second wagon. “All right, give me the details for your revenge” I said to the small group that remained and they told me everything. I compared it to the information that Van Reichnott had given me and nodded. “We're on that route anyway. You can ride along or we can meet you there.”

The small group looked happy and chose to ride along.

“As for you four, you can ride in the second wagon for now. At the first rest stop, I'll introduce you around to my party members formally.” I said to the lion man and his three companions.

“Thank you, Shield Hero.” The lion man said and they went over to the wagon.

I turned to the demi-humans that chose to stay. “Good luck and try to stay safe. If you are in any danger, come right to Van Reichnott's and he'll arrange transport to Lurolona Village.”

“Thank you.” Several of them said and walked away.

I walked over to the first wagon and didn't bother trying to cast a Notice-Me-Not on it as I climbed aboard. I gave Lept the details and our little revenge trek across the territory began.

Only one of the slaves chose to reverse the slave contract and wanted her former master as a slave. After learning what the man did to her, I agreed and she walked back into the house a happy woman and with a man on a leash. No one envied him, because she was going to get back every bit of money he had earned from her and every pound of flesh that he had taken from her.

I was sure I was the only one that thought it was appropriate, even though the rest were tossed into the Azkaban Prison on this world. I even stopped by what was considered a jail for the area and reviewed the cases. Most of them went right into Azkaban and the man running the place actually thanked me for saving him so much money.

I actually had to pop over to Azkaban and make sure the robot cooking staff had enough raw materials to make the food the prisoners ate. I wasn't going to risk putting living biological beings as staff. That would be just stupid. I had to expand the island slightly to create a couple of Naboo environmental domes on the island for their food needs, because there was about to be a lot more people here.

I gave the Dementors specific instructions. They were to send out parties of fifty to secretly roam around all of the countries to suck out the souls of all the bandits and criminals they could find that attacked people on the roads. I also instructed them to follow them to their bases and to let me know where they were before they cleared the bases out.

I also sent a thousand of them to the capitol of Faubrey to suck out the souls of the king, his council, and the royals that supported him. That made them very happy. They were also to find a man named Takt. They weren't to engage, because he was a very dangerous person. I would deal with him myself.

I also sent thousands of them out to find any magical anomalies in the world. They were magical themselves, so they could do it. They were to inform me as soon as they found anything like a weapon, a powerful person, or a place. I wanted a full accounting of the world to see if it really matched what I had read about.

With my tasks done, I popped back over to the wagon and we left the area to go to the seaside village that used to be Lurolona Village. It had been destroyed in the first wave and then the population was raided by the Melromarc soldiers and sold into slavery. My next task was to free them all.

I thought about buying them all, driving the price of slaves up; but, that would only benefit the people that owned them. I didn't want them gaining anything for profiting from the misery and misfortune of their slaves, so I would hunt them all down and free them by dismissing their slave crests. It would take a while, so I was going to put that off until I met with the Queen.

I popped a discreet message to each of the three heroes to tell them to meet me in the Queen's residence in Siltvelt. Thanks to Melty, I knew the address and we would go there as soon as I fixed up a few things in Lurolona. Of course, I had dozens of houses, streets, and even several village images in my head that I could pull from. The rebuilding wasn't going to take long at all. Setting up the protections would, however.

During the first evening stopover, I introduced my party to the four people from Siltvelt. I wasn't surprised that they mixed like oil and water, because their views and opinions were quite different. It also became quickly apparent that I was going to be viewed as a saviour by the population, even if it hadn't been me that had saved them.

I knew from the books that I would be considered a political manoeuvring tool and would be used ruthlessly by both Queen Mirellia of Melromarc and the ruling council of SiltVelt. If I let them, that is. Now that I knew about it, I would be able to avoid potential conflicts and being betrothed to Melty to join the two nations together. I wasn't staying, so that marriage was not going to happen.

In fact, none of the marriages were. I didn't have to worry about pissing off people in other countries for marrying their daughters without their approval. Not that their opinions mattered to me, because they didn't. Only those involved mattered to me and they all knew I was leaving, so nothing permanent was going to happen between us.

The four people returned to the other wagon. They hid their anger at not being able to manipulate me or the women in my life. We already had our own opinions about how things were going to go and we didn't need them to impose their beliefs on us.

“That could have gone better.” Raphtalia whispered to me as she cuddled me in the main area of the wagon. We didn't want to make a tower and have everyone be angry that we were sleeping in luxury and they weren't.

“Actually, I'm tempted to replace them and see what they know and will admit to, if they are under my control.” I said and she sighed. “I know. I can't do that with everyone.”

“Actually, I was thinking you could do it with everyone.” Raphtalia said and I raised my eyebrows at her. “Just hear me out.”

I nodded and she explained. She said that if I replaced everyone important that I met, then everyone would be completely loyal to me and no one would ever betray me or could even contemplate it. It was such a unique way of looking at things that I seriously considered doing it. I disliked politics and knew that a lot of the problems happening in every country was because of political conflict.

“If I got rid of the conflict...” I started to say.

“...there would be nothing for the countries to fight over.” Raphtalia said.

“You don't want me to limit it to the bad people, do you?” I asked and she shook her head.

“You can't ensure that everyone will cooperate unless you replace everyone that has a voice in that cooperation.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “It's a bit too late to do that with the Regent.”

“You don't need to. We're going to meet the Queen.” Raphtalia reminded me.

“Well, damn. How long have you been thinking about this?” I asked.

“Ever since you replaced the king and the three heroes.” Raphtalia said. “You ended all of that conflict almost immediately.”

“And all future conflicts with them.” I agreed.

“Just put the good ones into the minimum security wing of the prison.” Raphtalia reasoned. “You can release them in a week near the prison and then no one will believe they are who they say they are.”

I blinked my eyes at her for several moments and then smiled. “You are a brilliant woman.”

Raphtalia blushed and then smiled. “This is assuming that any of them actually are good.”

I barked a laugh and hugged her tightly. “We'll see soon.”

Raphtalia nodded and kissed me. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” I said and we drifted off to sleep.

*

The demi-humans were shocked three days later when the entire village had been rebuilt or replaced. The large church had been replaced with one that looked like the one in the castle city, except the symbol on the front had been changed to represent the four heroes. A few had argued about only putting a shield there and then it was pointed out that the Shield Hero was currently seen as a traitor.

There were fields of crops to be tended, reformed businesses to restart, and fishing to commence. It meant that everyone and their families that had chosen to go to the rebuilt village were all going to be quite busy. The only problem was Keel, now that we had to leave.

“You have to take me with you!” Keel pleaded and tugged on Raphtalia's clothing. “I'll even become... a... a... slave! I'll become a slave like you and...”

“I am not a slave!” Raphtalia snapped at her and the little dog girl jumped in fright.

“Raphtalia.” I said and she sighed.

“I refuse to take you into an enemy country with you as you are.” Raphtalia said.

“She's going!” Keel said and pointed at Melty.

“She's the Princess of Melromarc and the Queen's daughter. She has to come to get us a meeting with the queen.” Raphtalia said. “She also isn't expected to fight and will be protected by Filo.”

“I want to get big and strong like you!” Keel almost shouted.

“We haven't stopped to fight monsters since the last wave!” Raphtalia exclaimed. “There's no quick power up with us! We're all top level and the next wave is going to be dangerous! IT'S NO PLACE FOR YOU!”

Keel burst out crying and ran off.

“I got it.” I said and used the Force to grab the girl and brought her back over to me. I sat down on a chair I just created and sat Keel on my lap as I hugged her. “Keel, you have to understand. Raphtalia already lost Rifana because of the waves. She doesn't want to lose you, too.”

“I don't want her to go! I don't want to be left all alone again!” Keel shouted and cried into my shoulder as she hugged me tightly.

I gave Raphtalia a questioning look and she shook her head. “If we were still going to level up, I wouldn't hesitate to bring you along and boost you like I have the others.”

Keel's crying slowed down and she lifted her head as she looked at my face.

“However, if we do encounter any monsters, they are going to be much too high of a level for you to participate in the fight. Bringing you along would only give us more to worry about besides Melty and running from the soldiers.” I explained and wiped at her eyes. “I promise that as soon as things settle down, we'll come back here and we'll start training everyone that wants it.”

“R-really?” Keel asked.

“You won't jump in size like Raphtalia did, because of all the help she had and all the monsters she fought; but, I can guarantee that we will help you as much as possible in whatever time we have available.”

Keel gave me a sad look and nodded.

“Good girl. I'm glad you understand that we're not being mean and we aren't abandoning you. We just have tasks to complete and it's going to take all of our concentration. You are much safer here until we get you trained up and then we can see about having you either come along or set you up as a future protector of the village.”

Keel nodded several times and I hugged her to let her compose herself. When she started to fidget, I knew she was fine and opened my arms. She hopped off of my lap and gave me a pointed look.

“You better bring my friend home safe!” Keel said and pointed an accusing finger at me.

“I've done it once already.” I said and she nodded.

Keel gave Raphtalia a tight hug and made her promise to come back safe and sound, then she went over to the tower I had transfigured from stone to resemble the castle tower we all lived in. She had her own room inside, thanks to Raphtalia's request, and I left a house elf there to take care of her.

“Let's go.” I said and my party piled into the first wagon and the four Siltvelt citizens entered the second wagon. We left the rebuilt town with a twenty foot tall wall around it and large metal doors that would be closed to stop anyone from entering without being vetted first. In fact, the only humans allowed inside were myself and Van Reichnott.

It didn't take long to reach the border of the country and we stopped a fair distance away from the guard station. It was packed with soldiers and they were checking everyone that passed.

“I'll be right back.” I said and turned invisible before I flew up into the air and over the border crossing. I found a nice spot and landed, marked it with my hourglass shield, and flew back over to the wagon.

“You found a good spot already?” Raphtalia asked as I faded into view.

“I did and it's about two hundred feet on the other side and behind a small grove of trees.” I said and had them all touch the shield briefly. “I'll be right over with the wagon.”

I popped them all over to the new location using the shield and then used the apparate spell to move myself, the horses, and the compound wagon. It cost a lot of MP to do it; but, it was cheaper than trying to apparate everyone over while still inside the wagon.

The scale of costs was way off for using non-local magic and I doubted I was going to figure out why some things were cheap and others were too expensive to use more than once.

Everyone climbed back inside the wagons and we left the border crossing behind us and hadn't caused any kind of incident or let them know that their search was going to be quite fruitless from now on. I wasn't even tempted to stop and wave at them, just so they would know to stop looking.

It took another two weeks of travelling to reach the walled in capitol city of Siltvelt and we dropped off the four Siltvelt citizens in an out of the way alley near the main building. I wasn't sure why they didn't want to go home after being away for so long and it wasn't really any of my business, except Raphtalia's words kept coming back to me.

They couldn't betray me if they were magically created clones.

I sighed and let them go without assigning anyone to follow them to see where they went. Raphtalia took my hand and gave me a knowing look. I gave her a kiss in return and turned to look at Melty.

“All right, Princess. Let's get this meeting set up.” I said and she nodded.

“I'll need Lupin and Lept to escort me.” Melty said.

“Me, too!” Filo said and latched onto Melty's neck with her arms.

I thought about it and nodded. “As long as you go in your bird form and wear your attack gear.”

Filo grinned and pointed to her boots and then shook her hands at me to show off the bangles.

“We'll wait right here for you. If you don't return within an hour, or if Filo gives the panic signal, we'll storm the place and get you back.” I said.

The four of them gave me relieved looks and left the wagon on their mission. Raphtalia gave me a pointed look and tapped my shield. I nodded and changed it to invisibility and flew out after them to follow them from above. I also took out my wand to use instead of my shield.

I wasn't surprised that I had to interfere a couple of times as certain people noticed Melty, a human inside the main city. I redirected them to out of sight places, pilfered their recent thoughts, and banished them into Azkaban Prison. Those kinds of people did not deserve to be alive, let alone be roaming among normal people.

I followed Melty into the Queen's residence and floated near the ceiling as she was interrogated by the guards. When it got annoying after ten minutes of non-stop questions that just repeated, mainly about her admitting that she was kidnapped, I silenced them and immobilized them.

Melty took the cue as if they were done, so she moved on into the Queen's living space. As soon as Queen Mirellia saw her, she let out a surprised sound and hugged her, then she repeated the guards and their questions about being kidnapped. No matter what Melty said, the queen wouldn't believe that I hadn't done anything nefarious to her.

I shook my head at her words about using me to forge an alliance between Melromarc and Siltvelt. I was about to reveal myself when Melty's little hand slapped the woman's face.

“MOTHER! Snap out of it!” Melty exclaimed. “The Shield Hero is a declared traitor! He gave his word that he was never going to help Melromarc! How can you even think that you own him and can barter with his life like that!”

The Queen looked stunned for a moment, then her eyes squinted. “As the summoning country, we actually own all four heroes. It's one of the main contentions in this conference. Each major country was supposed to own one hero each. I didn't condone the Three Heroes Church summoning all four of them; but, now that they have, I will use them to the best of my ability to benefit my country and to stop everyone from going to war.”

Melty looked unsure of how to respond to that and Filo took that opportunity to change back to human form and hugged her.

“We are both fortuitous that the other three heroes have arrived here unexpectedly.” The Queen said, unfazed at the transformation, and looked at Lupin. “Send these people for the Shield Hero and bring him here. We must meet and discuss things. The future of our country... of the world... hangs in the balance.”

Lupin and Lept nodded to each other and left.

The Queen sat down and waved at another chair. “Sit and tell me about your kidnapping.”

“I wasn't kidnapped! How many times...”

“You left the castle in the company of the Shield Hero. Debating semantics won't change how everyone sees the event. He kidnapped you and is a declared traitor.” The Queen said. “This was going to happen, no matter who had been appointed as Regent. The remaining nobles are all completely loyal to the king and will seek revenge for his death.”

Melty sighed. “And we can't reveal to them that he's not dead, because it will undermine the words his double made in the public square during his execution.”

“Yes, my daughter. I have informed the other nations that Aultcray was still alive and it was a ruse to get the Shield Hero out of Melromarc. It has placated them somewhat.” The Queen said and sighed. “Unfortunately, this latest thing has caused an uproar in public sentiment.”

“You can just declare that he's innocent of the charges and stop the Regent's orders.” Melty said.

“I would if the Regent was in the wrong.” The Queen said and Melty looked surprised. “The Shield Hero hasn't left much room for innocence to be seen. At the most, I can forgive his crimes and then pardon him, for the sake of the nation and the world.”

“So, he's still known a traitor and he got away with it.” Melty sighed. “No one will trust him if you do that.”

“What else is there?” The Queen said and smiled. “Perhaps you like him more than you let on?”

Melty blushed. “Mother, he... he's older and...”

“He's seen her naked!” Filo offered.

I slapped my forehead in disappointment, glad that I had silenced myself and they didn't hear it.

“WHEN?!?” Queen gasped.

“A while ago when he dropped me off in Melty's bedroom and Melty came out of the bathroom covered in suds.” Filo said. “That was a fun bath! I'm glad he gave you so many toys to play with!”

“He's gifted you with personal things?” The Queen asked, quite pointedly.

Melty blushed again. “A... a bathroom... a wardrobe... and protective accessories.”

“He also lets me play with my friend whenever I want!” Filo offered. “When we're in danger, I protect her, though. I'm a good personal guard!”

The Queen looked smug and sat back to stare at her daughter. “Please tell me all about it while we wait for the Shield Hero to come here.”

Melty sighed as Filo started talking.

I had heard enough and popped back to the wagon as I made myself visible. “Lupin and Lept are coming for me.”

“Are we all going?” Iris asked and touched the hilt of her sword.

“No, it's just me, the other three heroes, and the Queen that are meeting. Possibly Melty, too.”

“You can't be left vulnerable.” Iris said as blue fire flowed up her arm.

I chuckled and walked over to her to give her a deep kiss. “I can teleport out as soon as there's any danger.”

“You won't, though.” Iris whispered.

I put my hand right into the fire on her arm and rubbed her upper arm and her shoulder. “I'll assess things first. If I really am in danger, or Filo or Melty, I'll get them out of there. I promise.”

Iris sighed and nodded.

“Kiss me, too!” Wyndia exclaimed and jumped onto me to kiss me several times.

“I shouldn't be that long.” I said with a laugh and peeled her off of me.

“We will do the same thing. If you are gone too long without a word, we will storm the place and get you back.” Alta the white tiger woman said and everyone nodded, even her brother. He had almost forgiven me for sleeping with his sister, because he couldn't deny that I had made her both happy and powerful.

“I'll send a note every hour.” I promised.

Alta nodded before she produced a napkin to wipe the slobber off of my face from Wyndia's kisses and then she kissed me hard.

“Here's Lupin and Lept.” Hopps said from the front of the wagon.

“I'll be back.” I said and jumped down out of the wagon. “You two are getting a good walking workout today.”

Lept chuckled and Lupin rolled his eyes.

“Moving around in the open like this is making me nervous.” Lupin said.

I had to laugh, as did everyone else. I pat his shoulder and nodded off to the side. “Lept can lead me there on his own.”

Lupin smiled and stepped towards the side and disappeared into the shadows.

“I really would like to do that myself.” Raphtalia said with a sigh.

“If I find anyone with that power or spell, I'll give it to you.” I said and left with Lept.

We weren't in a rush, because the meeting wouldn't start without me. So, we strolled along and a lot of the citizens were giving me odd looks. Some seemed to loop around and gave me second and third looks, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

By the time we reached the Queen's residence, there was a fairly large gathering of demi-humans following us. Luckily, Lept chose to enter the residence with me and I sent him back to the wagon with my shield. The guards were still silenced and immobilized, so I walked by them without being interrogated. I released them when I knocked on the Queen's door.

Melty opened it and the blush on her face intensified. “S-Shield Hero, please come in.”

“Thank you.” I said and she stepped back to allow me to enter.

The Queen stood and held a fan up that covered the bottom half of her face. “It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Shield Hero.” She said and walked over to me and held out her hand to me. “Or should I call you Hansen? Or perhaps John?”

I took her hand and bent over it without kissing it, which essentially insulted her by not following polite greeting protocol. “Only those I trust can call me by my name, Mirellia.” I said, quite pointedly.

The Queen pulled her hand back as if burned. “I did not give you leave to use my name.”

“Likewise.” I said and smiled at her. “How insulting is it to cover your face when first meeting someone? Are you that scared about revealing emotions that you have to cover your mouth, or is it that you can't lie convincingly if your mouth is uncovered?”

Melty gasped and Filo tugged on my clothing.

The Queen glared at me over her fan. “You really distrust anyone in authority, even if all we want is to help you?”

“You don't want to help me, though. None of your like do.” I said and her eyes widened. “All you want is to manipulate me for political gain, either to make your country look good or to smooth things over between your country and this one.”

The Queen lost the glare. “You can't expect me to not look out for my country's best interest.”

“No, because that's admirable. The problem I have with you is that's all you're looking out for.” I said Melty gasped. “Go ahead and tell me it's not true. Go ahead and tell me the welfare of your daughter is more important to you than the welfare of the country you left an idiot to run.”

The Queen snapped the fan closed and almost snarled at me. “How dare you!”

“How dare you!” I spat back and let the Force and my Chi fill the room. “If you had just stayed in Melromarc instead of abandoning it after the first wave, I wouldn't have been taken from the love of my life and brought here to try and clean up this stupid mess!”

Melty, Filo, and the Queen looked surprised.

“I've been working my ass off trying to prepare fighters to help me and it's almost a losing proposition! Even knowing some of what's coming, trying to do anything to prevent it, might make everything worse!”

The three of them trembled and I pulled my power back. They sighed in relief and my anger flared.

“Goddamn shield! I'm fucking tired of you interfering and messing up my emotions!” I exclaimed and created a Dementor. “Kiss the jewel, please!”

The Dementor almost smiled as it bent down and placed its mouth onto the jewel. An ungodly howl came from the shield as it trembled and the Dementor shivered and split into two.

“I'm only a little surprised that the shield didn't suck you in as you were sucking out the soul.” I said to it and it nodded. “Thank you. Meet up with the others in the area and follow my standing orders.”

They both nodded and floated over to the window, opened it, and floated away. The Queen made a whimpering sound and I sighed as I produced a chocolate bar for her.

“You must have been involved in some bad things if they affected you.” I said and she stared at the offered chocolate. “Eat it. It'll give you your strength back.”

The Queen took a small piece and tried it. She caught her breath and reached for more, paused, and looked at my face.

“Melty doesn't need it and neither does Filo.” I said and she took the bar and daintily ate it.

“Why didn't it affect me?” Filo asked.

“You have nothing but happiness in your life and there was nothing bad for you to relieve.” I said and pet her hair. “Melty only has regrets and sad memories, nothing traumatic, so the protection accessories I gave her stopped her from being reminded of them.”

“Mother? Are you okay?” Melty asked.

The Queen wouldn't meet Melty's eyes. “I'm fine. Just fine.”

“Perhaps we should put this behind us and get to that meeting you wanted with the four heroes.” I suggested.

“Y-yes, that is a good idea.” The Queen said and finished off the chocolate bar. She was back to her regal self once more and nodded to Melty. “You will attend me and your friend can wait here.”

I changed my shield to show the hourglass. “Filo, go back to the wagon to wait. I'll come and get you after the meeting.”

“Okay.” Filo said and hugged Melty. “See you soon!”

“See you.” Melty said and hugged her back. Filo let her go, touched the shield, and popped away.

“Come with me.” The Queen said and snapped open her fan to cover her lower face once more as she led us through a doorway that didn't go into the hallway. The path went in another direction and we reached another door and entered the room to see the three heroes sitting there.

“It's about time someone showed up.” The Sword Hero said. “We've been sitting here for hours.”

“We had to wait for the Shield Hero, since this concerns him and his overpowered levelling.” The Queen said and I sighed. “No, don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to steal your methods. You're here to discuss it with your fellow heroes.”

“And you're going to witness it.” I said.

“I give you my word that I won't divulge any secrets revealed.” The Queen said and sat at the head of the table. Melty stood beside her and gave me a sympathetic look.

“Whatever.” I said and sat at the last place. I knew what was going to be discussed, mainly levelling up the other heroes to get them and their parties into better fighting shape.

“Once you exchange your levelling up techniques and how effective they are, I want you all to travel to a rare experience boosting event in the Cal Mira Archipelago.” The Queen said.

“I don't really need it.” I said and she glared at me. I sighed and looked at the other three heroes. “Fine. Start talking.”

They did. Each told me the different ways that they were levelling their legendary weapons and how effective it was. I didn't want to point out that they were using up vital resources and were focusing too much on the weapons and not themselves, then I realized the problem. It was the same as in the books I had read and I almost kicked myself for not realizing it sooner.

I quickly explained my own levelling system and experience sharing, which shocked everyone in the room. They hadn't known anything like that was possible, so I informed them that each of the heroes and their methods were perfectly valid and could be used by each of them. They didn't believe me.

As proof, I produced a piece of Light Metal ore I gained from the mine near Ryute Village and added it to my shield while fully believing it would work. I shared the popup that the ore enhanced the shield by 1% and made several different shields be more effective. I then added dozens more chunks and raised it to 40%.

I also showed my current level of 236 and my shield's level of only 55, which meant I had been doing the opposite of the heroes and enhancing myself and not the shield. Everyone in the room gasped and stared at the numbers, disbelief on their faces.

I used the Sword Hero's 'Level Link' ability and my shield's level rolled like a counter and jumped up to match my level and it unlocked dozens of new shields and more background powers that boosted me and my party members even more.

It also gave me a ton of extra MP and SP points to assign to different skills and I gained a ridiculous amount of stat points. I used them judiciously and increased my necessary stats to much higher levels.

I ignored the supposed 100 level limit on my shield that normal weapons had, since Legendary Heroes ignored the normal level limit for themselves. Why would they limit the weapons when they were supposed to be Legendary? Right, they wouldn't.

The others stared, their mouths open, as I used all of the levelling methods for my shield and grew more powerful right before their eyes. They were also surprised while my own displayed level started to rise as I worked and I changed the shield to accommodate the new modes and material acquisitions. I had gained a lot of special items and things during my travels and it took a while to add them again.

When I finally stopped, I was level 280 and my shield had a distinct silver sheen and glowed a little. It also had tons of extra energy that I could convert into MP, SP, or use to level the weapons of my party members. I was definitely going to do that when I went back to the wagon.

“I'll need to go outside to a much larger area to add more ores to keep levelling up the shield. The chunks I can make are gigantic.” I said and no one said anything. “What is it?”

“You just... you just gained more levels in this room than the other heroes have gained in all this time.” The Queen whispered. Her face showed shock and her fan was clasped on her lap, forgotten.

“I've had a lot more adventures over the same amount of time.” I said. “Also, I can't add the three heroes to my party. I tried.”

The Queen sat there and looked thoughtful. While she contemplated it, I wrote out a quick note and changed my shield to show the hourglass and popped the note to Raphtalia.

“I believe the problem is that they have parties of their own. If they...” The Queen started to say.

“We refuse to dismiss our parties.” The Spear Hero said and cut her off. “Even if we were to level up at a ridiculous pace like the Shield Hero, sacrificing their friendships and everything we've been through together, isn't worth it.”

“I agree.” The Sword Hero said and gave me a pointed look. “Can you give us a more practical demonstration of your levelling methods?”

“Sure. We can all meet up with your parties and we can all discuss it.” I said.

“Excuse me?” The Queen said and looked upset. “I thought you didn't want to share your methods!”

“That was the shield's influence on me.” I said and pat the thing on my arm. “Now that it's not interfering with me anymore, I have no problem telling you how I did it or showing others.”

“This should benefit us a lot at the Cal Mira meeting.” The Bow Hero said.

“I still think I don't need it.” I said and stood up. “Unless there's a lot of high level things for my party to fight, it's just going to be a nice vacation for us.”

“The caravan to the shipping docks in Melromarc will leave in two days.” The Queen said and gave me an odd look. “There we can board a ship to take us to the Archipelago.”

“Sounds good. If I'm with you guys, they can't arrest me.” I said and smiled. “I just had a thought. Since I turned myself in, do I get the bounty on myself? It's pretty high now.”

The other three heroes laughed and I followed them through the other door. The Queen and Melty came with us and we went to where the party members were waiting. They reacted appropriately when I appeared and readied for an attack. I nodded to them and let the three heroes explain that I volunteered to come in and we were all going to Cal Mira for experience and training.

The party members relaxed and I quickly went through their surface thoughts. I found the soldier in the Spear Hero's party was just waiting for his chance to turn me in for the reward. So, I used a silent obliviate to remove that thought and the information that I was a traitor. No one else noticed his slightly blank look that lasted for several moments.

“Shield Hero, if you would.” The Queen said and motioned to the Spear Hero and his party. She had her fan back in place to cover her mouth, too.

“All right. The first lesson in power sharing is trust.” I said and they nodded. “Now, you really have to trust the head of your party. You need to trust him with your life, with confidence, and you have to really believe it. You need to actually trust him to be there for you.”

Only the soldier looked unsure.

“If you don't fully trust him, you will only get a small boost and not the full benefit.” I said and pulled out a copy of the Holy Relic.

The Queen and most of the women gasped, except for Melty and First Princess.

“This is going to significantly boost your weapons and yourselves.”

“How did you get that?” The Queen asked.

“I took it from the Pope before I sent him to prison for treason against Melromarc.” I said and Melty looked pleased. “It also has a built in morph ability, so when you use your weapon to absorb this, your weapon will also gain that ability as well as giving you and your party members a recharging ability for both MP and SP.”

“That's so great!” One of the women exclaimed. She looked like a magic user.

“If you change your weapon to the Holy Relic, it boosts that again.” I clarified and she squealed. “When combined with the Sword Hero's weapon mastery belief, the weapon will increase in both power and ability the more you use it.”

“Oh, wow!” Another woman gasped. She was part of the Bow Hero's party.

“If combined with the Bow Hero's belief that an item added is converted to energy and that energy can enhance your weapon, to boost a weapon's stats, you increase the potential even further.” I said. “Now, if you also add in my belief that sharing can boost it further and the energy can be used on both weapons and people, you can assign the stat points to yourself instead.”

“You really believe all of that?” Someone asked.

“After all of the things I've seen and done, I believe a lot more than that can be done.” I said and nodded to the Spear Hero. “Are you ready to do this?”

The Spear Hero stood confidently and nodded. “I believe everything you've told us.”

“As do I.” The Sword Hero said. “It's too outrageous to be a lie.”

The Bow Hero nodded and then everyone else did, too.

I handed the Holy Relic to the Spear Hero. “Then feed this to your weapon and let it do its work.”

The Spear Hero looked at each person in his party and said the same line. “I believe in you. You will benefit from this.”

They each nodded to him and he nodded back.

The Spear Hero held the Holy Relic to the Legendary Spear in his hand and both glowed brightly, then the relic seemed to change into liquid and flowed into the jewel at the base of the spear's head.

“OHH!” First Princess gasped and she glowed slightly.

The others in the party glowed just as much, except for the soldier. He only barely glowed and then it ended. He looked disappointed in himself and waited for the others to finish receiving their benefits. It only took about ten seconds and they all looked happy.

“It worked even better than I thought!” The woman magic user said, happily.

“Show me.” The Queen ordered and the popups appeared above the Spear Hero's party with everyone's status. “That... that really did work.”

“Of course it did.” The Spear Hero said, proudly. “I even gained a level for absorbing the fake copy of the Legendary Spear.”

“Hey, how come they got to do that?” One of the men in the Sword Hero's party asked.

“They were an example and the proof that you all needed to see.” I said and created another Holy Relic as I pretended to take it out of storage.

“NO!” The Queen gasped.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You... you...”

“I have one for each of them.” I said and created another one to hold out to both the Sword Hero and The Bow Hero. Their party members looked very pleased with this development.

“Three... you have three of them.” The Queen whispered.

“Had.” I said as the two heroes absorbed the Holy Relics and they started glowing. “They were also fully charged, which is why the benefits for absorbing them are so high.”

“Yes, this... this is wonderful.” The Sword Hero said as he and his party members glowed. “I never imagined... I had assumed my weapon had a limit.”

I chuckled. “I think normal weapons have limits because they'll explode if charged too much. Legendary Weapons are designed to grow with the user. The more powerful you become, the more powerful you both become.”

“The reverse is also true.” The Bow Hero said. “The more unique the weapon, the more powerful it is.”

“Rarity is a quality all on its own.” I agreed. “It's just unfortunate that you can only absorb one of each item.”

“For each purpose.” The Spear Hero said and I looked at him. “You absorbed one for its inherent abilities to merge with your shield, correct?”

I nodded. “Right after I gained it from the Pope.”

“So, why can't you add one to convert solely to energy for personal stat enhancement? Or once for sharing with your party for their enhancement? Or once for pumping your shield up?” He asked.

“Well, damn. Even with the one limit, I can do it for each of the levelling options, since it converts the weapon and the energy for different purposes.” I said and then laughed as I clapped the Spear Hero on the shoulder. “Thank you! I'm going to abuse the heck out of that!”

“It's too bad we've used up all our rare materials already. I think we all could have benefited from more enhancement while we're here and prepped for it.” The Bow Hero said.

I smiled and pretended to pull something out of storage. “I think I can help you with that, considering the Spear Hero gave me another way to enhance our weapons and our party members.”

“Is that a Dragon Emperor Core?” The Queen asked, shocked.

“It is.” I said and the others made appreciative sounds. I held it out to the Spear Hero. “Here you go.”

“By the sacred relics! Are you crazy?” Someone exclaimed.

“Oh, I'm sure I am after all the things I've done.” I said and nodded to the Spear Hero. “If you're nervous about accepting it, I have one for each of you.”

The Spear Hero smiled and took it. “This won't be as spectacular as the Holy Relic.”

“Only if you believe that.” I said and went to the Sword Hero and gave him one.

“Thank you.” The Sword Hero said and admired the thing. “It's similar to the Dragon Heart stone.”

“Oh! I can give you one of them, too.” I said and handed one to him.

Everyone stared as I went back to the Spear Hero and gave him a Dragon Heart Stone and then I went to the Bow Hero and gave him one of each. I also whispered to them to notify me when they were alone and I would handle the spirit inside their weapons.

A couple of minutes later, they were all powered up and had their weapons upgraded with Dragon enhancements like toughness, fire enhancements, and strength bonuses.

“This has been an amazing day!” Melty said as I walked over to her. “Thank you very much for all your help, Shield Hero.”

“I'm sorry I'm not staying around long enough to accept the marriage contract, Princess.” I said and both she and the Queen gasped, only for different reasons. Melty reacted because she had no idea I was even considering anything like that. The Queen reacted because she hadn't discussed anything like that with me and had only thought about how beneficial it would be.

Melty looked up into my eyes and she must have liked what she saw, because she blushed. “J-John...”

“I'll pop Filo over and you can hang out until we leave with the caravan.” I said.

Melty nodded and then she blushed really hard as I took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“Wait!” The Queen said and closed her fan. “About my country...”

“I won't be staying there.” I said and she sighed. “I might be a slave to these waves and I can't leave this world until they are done; but, I absolutely refuse to be used for political gain. You don't own me and you can't use my future as a bargaining chip in your politics and your games.”

“You could stop everyone from going to war.” The Queen said and then whispered. “Over you.”

I smiled at the addition. “Don't worry about that. I'll handle it.”

There was a knock on the door next to the one we entered through. It opened without anyone saying it was okay to enter and a court page came in. He glanced around to look at everyone and walked over to me. He handed me a rolled up scroll, bowed, and then ran away.

“I'm pretty sure he was a weasel.” I said and a few of the party members chuckled at the double meaning. I opened the scroll and sighed.

“What is it?” Melty asked and stepped close to my side to look at the parchment. “It's a summons to appear before the Siltvelt Council of Representatives.”

“Oh, joy.” I said and rolled it back up to tuck into my storage. “At least it's not until tomorrow.”

“I can accompany you.” The Queen offered.

I gave her a pointed look and a raised eyebrow.

The Queen sighed at my rebuking her ploy to be seen with me and being associated with me publicly.

“I can go with you instead.” Melty offered.

“No, you can't.” I said and pet her head.

“Why not?” Melty asked. “You don't know anything about proper court behavior.”

“You can't go with me for the same reason your mother can't accompany me. Ask her about it if you don't understand the implications.” I said and took two steps away from her. “Filo will be right here.”

Melty nodded and I popped away. I was quickly tackled by Filo to send me to Melty, and I did so.

“You've been busy.” Raphtalia said and her raven gave me a stare. It was also twice as big and had silver covered claws.

“Gather everyone together and I'll fill you all in.” I said and apparated above the city, then flew over to a large empty field. I created a copy of the hundred and fifty mile wide iron and nickel refined ore ball I had harvested from asteroids and left near Mars in the Stargate Universe. I used the levelling up options as I added the ore to the shield and gained 100 levels for adding in ten million tons of ore.

I created the several mile wide pure gold ball from the same universe and added it to the shield as well. I gained another 150 levels for half a million tons of gold ore. I then added a hundred thousand tons of platinum, ten thousand tons of zinc, and thousands of tons of every other precious metal I had harvested from asteroids and gained another 140 levels.

I was now at level 675 and had an enormous amount of extra stats, MP, and SP to assign where I wished and to work with. Honestly, the levelling systems were quite handy and made my progress completely ridiculous. I did not mentally kick myself for not doing this earlier, because like I had told the others, the shield had to level up before I could add bigger and more powerful things.

It was a wonderful thing that I could do it, too. No one else was anywhere near my level and my shield had a golden sheen instead of the silver one it had before. Once it passed level 500, it had changed to looking like it was very expensive.

I apparated back to the wagon and was met with a dozen pairs of accusing eyes. “I had a few more things to add to enhance my shield.” I said and then created another Holy Relic. I added it to convert to energy and filtered it through the shield and into them to pump their stats up.

“Ohhh.” Alta moaned and then she clapped a hand over her mouth. “John! Stop that!”

“I'm sorry. I didn't think pumping your stats higher after you were max level affected you like that.” I said and created another Holy Relic.

“What did I just say?” Alta accused. She didn't try to grab my hand to stop me, though.

“Weapon enhancement this time.” I said and fed the relic to my shield and they all shivered as their individual weapons powered up. “Now your armor.”

“I'm getting too old for this.” Fohl the white tiger man joked, because he was only a year older than his sister.

“I'll do more of my own stats later and concentrate on all of you for now.” I said and started funnelling several Dragon Heart Stones and Dragon Emperor Cores to make the same changes and enhancements to everyone. I also explained to them what I was doing and how I was doing it. I kept adding more rare items and things that I had gathered, because I wanted to make sure I abused the different modes of levelling as much as possible.

By the time I was done, Alta was draped over my lap and hugged me while she licked and kissed my ear, with an occasional nibble and soft growl thrown in. Considering she usually didn't do anything like that in public, she was very turned on right now.

“Bed. Now.” Raphtalia ordered with a stern face.

I guess Alta's not the only one turned on. I thought and went to my crafting section to fold it up and created a bed in the freed space. I was suddenly stripped naked and pushed down onto the bed, only to hear four growls from the four women. The looks on their faces told me that I better not disappoint them after getting them going.

I had just enough time to create a wall behind them and to cast a silence spell when they tackled me.

*

I stood outside the Siltvelt Council Chamber the next morning and felt pretty sore and very tired. “I really should have waited until the trip to do that.” I commented and the two guards that waited there with me gave me searching looks. “I gave several demi-human women level-up benefits without levelling them.”

One of the guards chuckled. “Did they tear you up or mate with you?”

“Mate.” I said and rubbed my back. “Lots of mating.”

“You beat the odds.” The other one said. “We've seen a few forced levelling rituals in the Colosseum. It wasn't pretty, even when she chose mating.”

I blinked my eyes at him, because I didn't know that. “I... ah... will keep that in mind.”

The both of them laughed, because they knew I was going to do it again.

The large doors opened and a different court page was there. “They are waiting for you, Shield Hero.”

I nodded and entered. He stayed outside and shut the doors behind me. I walked into the fairly large meeting chamber and saw that there were thirteen high ranked demi-humans and they all seemed to both glare and study me at the same time.

“Is this all of you on the council?” I asked and they nodded.

“We would like to say it is a pleasure to meet you.” The lion beastman that sat in the center spot said. “However, we've had several agents assess you.”

“If you mean the slaves I rescued and freed, they were completely biased against my chosen mates and how I am handling them.” I said. “Then again, I was sure at least one of the women wanted me to bed her and she couldn't ask me with four others already in my bed.”

“So, you admit to refusing her?” One of the council members asked, pointedly.

“No, I said she never asked.” I responded. “Is she here? I'll do her right in front of you if you want.”

Complete silence fell in the chamber and they all looked relieved at the idea.

“That was the exact reaction I was looking for.” I said and cast Stasis on them. I went to each member and rifled through their current thoughts and their plans, which all included manipulating me in some fashion.

The worst one was getting at least one of their family members pregnant to have Shield Hero children and elevate their family to prominence. They didn't want the children for themselves, only for political gain. They also hoped their wives would catch my interest and they could leverage that as a means to keep me in the country.

I sighed as almost everyone wanted to keep me, except the the lion beastman that sat in the center. He wanted to poison me if I didn't agree to the others and their plans, then he would frame Queen Mirellia for it, so they could go to war and kill the upstart humans that were making demi-humans into slaves.

The thing was, I knew this was a good way to end the waves. One of the conditions I had read about was letting massive guardian beasts loose by unsealing them, have them kill two thirds of the entire world's population and consume their souls to convert to energy, then they would use that energy to seal the wave cracks. Wars gave them tons of deaths and souls to consume.

Can you imagine sacrificing a billion people to stop the waves that will eventually kill all of them anyway? Who had the right to choose that option and wouldn't fight to keep as many people as possible alive?

The only problem with that solution was there were heroes on the other world that were fighting for the same thing. Some were actual members of that world and some were summoned like myself and the three heroes. I would need to find them and deal with them, too.

I sent each of the council members to Azkaban in this world and then created a magical clone to replace them. I didn't bother asking them what their plans were and just told them to smooth things over with every other nation and to not go to war. This world would be at peace and the current rulers would have no say in that, just like Raphtalia suggested.

“If any of the representatives from other countries gives you trouble about it, let me know. I'll deal with them.” I said and left the council chamber.

I had a whole day to add more ores and things to upgrade and enhance myself, my shield, and my party. I would also need to be careful to do it well away from everyone and flew over to that same bare field to start working on it.

The Spear Hero's belief that Smelting, which was adding ores to enhance a weapon, had no limit. The problem was that each time you tried to add more ores to a weapon form, there was a small chance that it would fail and reset to zero. Since I had only done it for the basic shield, I could change to each of the hundreds of shield forms I had and could add more ores.

I would start with the nickel and iron ore for the first upgrade, then move on to the gold and precious metals to ensure success with each new upgrade, thanks to the Bow Hero's belief that rarity made the ores more powerful. I believed that too, which was why I added them in the order I had for the basic shield.

Combining all of that and my sharing power ability, made the whole process completely broken.

*

“You're lucky you kept sending us notes and told us what you were doing!” Raphtalia growled at me when I finally returned to the wagon that night.

“The caravan's not leaving until late morning. We have plenty of time to...” I started to say when I was tackled and then dragged to bed, stripped naked, and then I was used by all four of them all night and all the next morning.

I had discovered during my shield upgrading that each shield let me funnel different stat enhancements if I converted things to energy first, because each shield had a different inherent effect on my party members. Once I knew that, I had pumped as much energy through the shields as I could after upgrading them several times with precious ores.

It apparently drove the women wild and they couldn't get enough of me. Actually, I hadn't seen the three mole-people since I started upgrading everyone, so I asked about them during the bath the next morning.

“I'm glad they aren't siblings, because they haven't left their hovel.” Iris said. “You don't want to know what they are doing in there.”

“I think I have some idea.” I said and glanced at Raphtalia, who looked very pleased with herself.

“No, you don't.” Iris said. “On the plus side, Lept found a nice bunny woman yesterday and Hopps is already calling her Mom.”

“Wow, really?” I asked and everyone nodded. “Do I even want to ask how that came about?”

The four women exchanged looks and then Alta leaned in to whisper in my ear. “She said she had married Lept, who had raised him like a son, then she knelt and sucked Hopps off right there in front of everyone.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise and she purred at making me react like that.

“Lept looked proud at how efficient she was.” Iris said. “You don't want to know what was going on in their hovel, either.”

I was pretty sure I knew, especially if the traits of rabbit beastmen and rabbit demi-humans were similar to normal rabbits and their sexual proclivities. If Lept changed into his rabbit form as well... I stopped that thought before it completely formed. I did not want to imagine that scenario or how much the bunny woman would enjoy it. Nope, it was not going to happen.

“Why do you have an erection?” Wyndia asked and didn't wait for an answer as she dove under the water to suck me off.

“John, did you imagine...” Raphtalia whipered.

“No, I stopped myself before that happened. Just the thought that she gave Hopps a blowjob in front of you all...” I paused as Wyndia gave a particularly strong suck and then she sat up with a splash.

“I can't hold my breath for very long.” Wyndia said.

I nodded and moved to sit on the side of the tub for her. She went right back to work and I saw the interested looks on the other women's faces. “Yes, that look right there. I bet you all paid attention because the bunny woman wanted you to.”

“You're right. We watched the whole thing and didn't comment or interrupt.” Raphtalia said with a smile. “Isn't that funny?”

“I think we're almost trained for it.” Iris said and looked at Wyndia. “We've done it enough ourselves.”

“That wouldn't explain the men watching.” Alta said. “Of course, they're men. Would they need an excuse to watch?”

Raphtalia laughed softly. “How many do you think would have jumped in there if she offered?”

“None.” Alta said. “Lupin loves his sheep monster and my brother wouldn't cross species, even for freely offered uncomplicated sex. Booya wouldn't betray his girls, either.”

“John?” Iris asked.

“Just... a second.” I said and moaned as I blew a load into Wyndia's mouth.

“Mmm, that's so good!” Wyndia said after she swallowed.

“I've taken a freely offered BJ before; but, the society itself was completely free with love, family, and caring about propagating humanity. Plus, she was a hologram.” I said and they gave me surprised looks. “I gave her a mobile emitter to reward one of my old crewmates. He married her and they lived a long and happy life together.”

“What happened to her?” Raphtalia asked and washed me off.

“She became the settlement's overall ruler, because she couldn't be bribed, tricked, coerced, or forced to do anything that would endanger anyone under her care.” I said. “We were good friends until I left.”

“Did you ever do... that... again?” Iris asked.

“Oh, no. She completely loved Mouse and stayed devoted to him after he passed away. I regret that they never figured out how to add adaptive programming to the mobile emitter for a child to be born and to grow up normally.”

“Aww.” Raphtalia said and hugged me. “The poor things.”

I nodded and hugged her back. “We better get dressed. The caravan's leaving soon.”

We climbed out of the tub and I dismissed it, then dried us all off and switched the air around us with our clothing.

“Warming charms as well! Mmm.” Iris almost purred.

I kissed her and went to the front of the wagon to tell Lept to drive us over to the Queen's residence. We soon arrived there and joined several other wagons that contained the Queen, Melty, Filo, several retainers, maids, guards, and a lot of clothing and items. The three heroes each had one wagon and they were packed inside.

I chuckled at the cramped quarters and went to each one to expand the inside to a nice size. It shocked the party members and then they rejoiced at the extra space and quickly claimed their own areas. I pulled each of the three heroes aside and had three Dementors suck out the soul presence in each of the weapons.

Of course, now that I had them there, I did the same to the real heroes that were in Azkaban Prison and 'out of play'. The extra souls made the Dementors split several times and I sent them off to join their brethren as I sent the three actual heroes to the prison on this world.

Melty chose to stay with her mother for the first half of the trip and Filo stayed with her, so I left her there and went back to my wagon. We joined in the caravan as it left the walled capitol city and our trip back to Melromarc began.

I wasn't going to relax, because with the levelling techniques I now knew and could abuse like crazy, I could do the same thing with the weapons that all of my party members carried. I did Raphtalia's first and almost immediately brought it to level 100 by using a Dragon Emperor Core and infusing it into the blade. Raphtalia moaned as it finished upgrading and she gave me an angry look.

“Sorry, dearest. I'll ravage you as soon as I finish the other weapons.” I promised.

“You better!” Raphtalia snapped and took her sword back.

“I haven't disappointed you yet, have I?” I asked as Iris handed me her broadsword.

“No, and I don't know why I don't expect you to.” Raphtalia said.

“That's because we love him and trust him completely!” Wyndia exclaimed and licked Raphtalia's face. “I think he could just poke us with his finger and we'll come!”

Raphtalia laughed softly and hugged her. “I don't think even John can do it that easily.”

“Raphtalia.” I said and used the Force to poke her between the legs. “I love you.”

Raphtalia gasped as she came and then she blushed.

“What was that you said?” I asked with a warm smile.

“N-nothing.” Raphtalia whispered and covered her crotch.

I waved a hand over her and cleaned her up, then went to work on the weapon Iris used. Another Dragon Emperor Core and Iris moaned as the blade levelled up. It almost looked like magma as I handed it back to her.

“I love you.” Iris said and gave me a passionate kiss.

“Do me next!” Wyndia said happily and handed me her dual swords. “Both ways!”

I chuckled and did as she asked, using the Force and telling her I loved her. She came a lot harder than Raphtalia did, even though she knew I was going to do it, and she slowly licked my cheek as I upgraded her blades with Dragon Heart Stones to fully level them. The weapons weren't big enough to handle the Dragon Emperor Core and would explode with that much magic and energy being injected.

On and on I worked as the day progressed. I only stopped working when the caravan stopped for everyone to eat. It didn't take much prompting for me to be convinced to cook lunch for everyone, and not just my party. It was actually funny to watch the Queen, her retainers, her maids, and the three heroes and their parties as they reacted to the delicious food.

“You truly are the rumored Cooking Hero.” The Queen said to me as I served her a strawberry sundae parfait for dessert. “What is this odd looking thing?”

“It's absolutely sinful, mother.” Melty said and accepted hers with a wide smile. “Thank you.”

I smiled warmly at her and quickly went around to give one to everyone. I was halfway done when the Queen's unrestrained moan of pleasure cut through the chatter around the table like a hot knife through butter.

“I told you.” Melty said and a spoonful of whipped cream and strawberries entered her mouth. She moaned as well and licked her lips, then she ate another spoonful. “Mmm!”

Of course, once the Queen and the Princess had tasted it and reacted that way, every single other woman tasted it. The chorus of moans and pleased sounds filled the area and the women in my party wore smug looks, because they had been having my desserts every day. The looks of envy they received, made them pretty happy.

Everyone finished dessert and with a soft sigh, stood up from their tables.

“Your highness, what would you like served for supper?” I asked and everyone froze, even the Queen. “Or should I surprise you?”

The Queen glanced at Melty, who nodded. “You can continue to surprise me, Shield Hero.”

I smiled and nodded, which made everyone start chattering about what supper would be. They went back to their wagons with smiles on their faces and happy to have something to look forward to.

“You do realize you just offered to cook for everyone for the rest of the trip, don't you?” Lupin asked me as we entered the wagon.

“If she likes what I make.” I said with a smirk and he laughed.

She did. She really did. In fact, the Queen politely asked for the recipe of Beef Wellington for her cooks to make it. I gave it to her, with the stipulation that my legendary shield made it taste even better than it normally would. It's cooking level was just an infinity symbol after all of the modifications and upgrades I had done to the shield.

We travelled on and I worked on my party's weapons to finish upgrading them. When they were done, I started working on their armor. When Raphtalia asked me why, I said that it wouldn't be fair if only the weapons could be upgraded, since I knew armor could be enhanced individually as well.

Needless to say, giving my party members even more bonuses, abilities, and stats to assign, had me tied to the bed that night. I was actually getting used to being ravished instead of being the ravisher, not that I was going to let that stop me from pleasing them, even tied up. The Force was my good friend in this world.

*

The guards at the border of Siltvelt and Melromarc didn't stop the Queen's caravan or looked inside the wagons. I still hid myself and my party members from their prying eyes, though. Why take the chance that they wouldn't attack first and ask questions later?

*

During one of the longer stops for eating supper and to rest, we came across a small wagon with a single horse. The two occupants had stopped to eat as well, since they had been travelling for quite some time. I recognized them immediately as L'Arc and Therese from the story and asked them to join us for supper.

They were reluctant at first, until Filo pretty much assaulted them and said they were missing out on the best food in the world. With such a boast, both of the newcomers had to try my food for themselves. Of course, I pulled out all the stops and prepared my best tasting meal of spaghetti and meatballs smothered in a tasty spaghetti sauce, which everyone sang the praises of.

L'Arc and Therese were shocked at the deliciousness and seemed to be speechless, then I produced my best dessert, the triple layer triple chocolate cake that was so light and fluffy that it melted in your mouth with the taste of chocolate fudge filling, chocolate frosting, and chocolate syrup.

The men all made appreciative sounds and all of the women made indecent sounds as they ate it, even the Queen. Her face was flushed red the entire time she ate the dessert and she no longer bothered to hide her pleasure at eating such rich and delicious foods.

I stood off to the side and enjoyed seeing them all react like that, because it really was something that none of them had experienced before. I didn't count my own party, as we had shared it many times now. They still reacted the same way, however. It really was a very scrumptious cake with my shield's help.

During the after dinner discussion, our destination came up because our caravan was so large. L'Arc and Therese found out about the Cal Mira Archipelago and the rare levelling opportunity and decided to head there themselves.

“Why don't you join our caravan?” I offered and they looked surprised. “If we're going to the same place anyway, why go separately?”

“Why indeed.” The Queen said and gave me a pointed look.

“You do realize the heroes could have gone there already, thanks to our travel ability?” I asked and she had a blank look on her face. “We would have been waiting for you all this time, because we could jump to the closest point we've marked on our maps and gone to the island without you.”

“You're travelling with me on purpose?” The Queen asked, clearly surprised.

“Melty and Filo decided to ride with you. I couldn't leave a party member behind.” I said.

Filo jumped on me and kissed my cheek. “Thank you, master!”

“Please call me Hansen.” I said and she giggled. “You're not going to, are you?”

“Nope!” Filo said and ran back over to Melty and hugged her.

I sighed and waved at the rest of my party. “Give me a hand cleaning up and we can travel for a bit more before we stop for the night.”

“Why don't we stay here? It's a great spot and we all fit here, even with all the wagons.” Raphtalia suggested.

I glanced around at the large area and nodded. “I suppose this is better than looking for another spot in a few hours.”

“Great! You can finish making me that companion bracelet!” Raphtalia exclaimed and showed off the first one that I had made for her and had upgraded to its maximum level.

“Ha! I knew you had a reason for stopping early!” I said with a laugh and she gave me a deep kiss.

“You always work better when the wagon's not moving.” Raphtalia said.

“That's true. It is a little easier with a perfectly flat workbench that's not shaking occasionally.” I said and kissed her back. “Go set up my crafting station and I'll be right in.”

Raphtalia jumped out of my arms and ran to our wagon.

“You could swear you've never made her anything before with the way she acts.” Iris whispered to me as she put her arms around me from behind and hugged me.

I hugged her arms and she lightly kissed the side of my neck. “Do you want one as well? Is yours getting lonely?”

Iris moved a hand from my belly to rub the bright red ruby jewel encased in platinum on her wrist. “Perhaps. It might need more attention from you, since you've been so busy lately upgrading all of our things.” Iris whispered.

I chuckled and turned around in her arms. “Are you talking about the bracelet? Because I distinctly remember paying particular attention to you last night.”

Iris blushed and then gave me a soft and tender kiss. “That was last night. This is today.”

I laughed and gave her a passionate kiss. “You can help me at my crafting table.”

Iris beamed a smile at me and nodded. “I'll help you clean up in exchange.”

“Deal.” I agreed and we went to each picnic table and made sure everyone was done eating and I washed the dishes and stored them. I left the tables and tablecloths, because we were going to need them in the morning. Some were still occupied as people chatted in different groups, even the Queen and her retinue.

I could almost feel the intense stares from both L'Arc and Therese as we worked and then when I went to my wagon. I knew from the story that Therese wanted a new accessory for casting magic and she would approach me soon for it. I would have to thank Raphtalia later for bringing it up without me needing to prompt her to.

*

Two weeks later, we arrived at the dock town and there were dozens of ships there waiting for passengers. Apparently, the Cal Mira thing only happened every ten years and adventurers from all over gathered together to make the journey to the resort islands. They wanted to make themselves better by fighting the much tougher monsters and the experience gains were also doubled, which meant they could level up that much faster.

All I was looking forward to was seeing what new ingredients and materials I could find and I could take an actual vacation at the resort. I was level 738 now, just from all of the things I had done to abuse the levelling system for myself and my party members, so there was nothing on the island that could let us level up anymore. Creature-wise, anyway.

On the plus side, Queen Mirellia seemed quite amicable and I didn't have to switch her out for a magical clone. Not yet, anyway. Also, the trip on the ship would take about a week and if my calculations were right, Therese would be asking me tonight to make her something.

Just like in the story, we were assigned the same rooms, even though I had a lot more people in my party. That told me that the Shield Hero was meant to meet them here and the circumstances were being manipulated.

“It's funny meeting you here!” L'Arc said with a laugh. “The ship's first mate made a mistake, didn't he? I doubt we're all going to fit in this room.”

I took out a wand and waved it at the room and it expanded out to easily fit fifteen people and then made enough beds for everyone. “I don't think we'll have much trouble fitting in.”

L'Arc snapped his mouth closed on his retort and Therese's face looked almost euphoric.

“MAKE ME SOMETHING!” Therese yelled and then scrambled as she looked through her belongs and gathered a handful of things. “Please! Please make me something! Use whatever you want from these rare items we've collected!”

I held my hands out and she dumped the things into them. I gained images of them and the rare metals were only small bits and not really enough to do much with, even with smelting them together; but, I could use the shield's instant item creation to make a base and then go from there. The red crystal was unrefined and seemed to give off a sad feeling.

I picked it up and smiled. “Don't worry, little one. When I'm done with you, other crystals of your kind are going to be jealous.”

Therese sucked in a sharp breath. “H-Hansen... can... can you...”

“No, I can't commune with them like a true magic user. I can assume a few things however, like it being sad that it's unrefined and unusable in this state.” I said and she looked pleased that I could tell that much. “Give me a few hours to work on it. I've had a lot of practice making and refining crystals for months now.”

“He's being modest.” Raphtalia said and drew out her sword.

L'Arc and Therese caught their breath at the power of the thing.

“Just look at the workmanship and the care he put into this.” Raphtalia said with reverence. “He's done the same for all of our accessories and our armor.”

“He's the best craftsman we've ever met.” Hopps said and took his mother's hand to lead her over to the nearby wall. “Hansen? Can you change these things for us?”

“Oh, right! I'm sorry. I made them all beds by mistake.” I said and tucked the ingredients into a pocket that shouldn't have fit them, surprising L'Arc and Therese once more, then I used my wand to change two of the beds into a man-sized rabbit hovel. I did the same to three other beds in the corner of the stateroom and the three mole-people thanked me and disappeared inside.

“You're not a true magic user?” Therese asked, her voice full of disbelief.

“No, I have other abilities that have nothing to do with magic... which is probably why they are blocked here. When I was summoned, part of the spell locked me into a set path. I'm doing my best to subvert that path as much as possible, while also completing the original spell. It's a fine line, especially since I had been fighting my desire to smash everything to get it out of my way.”

The two people looked shocked and Raphtalia laughed and hugged me. “He removed the negative influence that his shield was forcing him to feel to try and unlock its cursed series. He's much better now.”

“Yes, the mood swings were annoying as hell.” I agreed. “I've been feeling much more like myself since then.”

“What did you do?” L'Arc asked.

“I can't divulge it, unless you want to show me your weapon and I can demonstrate?” I asked.

“Huh? What?” L'Arc asked and looked confused.

“One of my abilities is to assess the abilities of someone else. I know you have a powerful weapon that's similar to the Legendary Weapons the three heroes wield.”

“Excuse me? You didn't include yourself in that.” Therese said, as if correcting me.

“I have a defensive weapon. There's no way L'Arc has one similar to mine.” I said with a smile.

L'Arc barked a laugh. “Damn right. I actually feel sad about you trying to level up on the island with only a shield to work with.”

“Don't be. I'm not going there to level. I'm going to gather ingredients and to have a vacation.”

That seemed to surprise the two even more.

“You're going to the premiere event for levelling on this world and you're not going to participate?” L'Arc asked.

“No, I'm going to relax and spend some quality time with my women.” I said and walked over to the bed Raphtalia had chosen. “It's going to be a long week for them as we travel to the islands, I'm sorry to say.”

“It really, really will be.” Iris said and took the bed next to mine.

“I'm going to bunk with Melty!” Filo exclaimed and ran off.

“Ah, so easily abandoned.” I joked and the others laughed. I saw the confused looks on Therese and L'Arc. “Filo hatched as a chick and sees me as her father. She would nestle in my hair and wouldn't let me leave her sight or leave her behind.”

“Until she met Melty. It took a few weeks and now she feels that way for Melty instead of Hansen.” Wyndia said. “I don't know if she even realizes it.”

“What if we pointed it out to her?” Lupin suggested. “Perhaps she might start distancing herself from the princess.”

“Or feel horrible for abandoning me.” I said.

“Oh. That's a good point. Never mind.” Lupin said and claimed the bed right beside the door. “I'll keep watch.”

“Thank you, my friend.” I said and he waved my thanks away before he laid down to face the wall. “Since Filo doesn't need a bed, I'll convert it to a worktable.” I looked around at everyone's faces. “Assuming no one objects.”

“If it gets me an accessory sooner, I won't object to the noise or the mess.” Therese said.

“Great. I'll get right to work.” I said and changed the unclaimed bed into a workbench and populated it with my tools and the materials I would need to craft the best accessory.

Therese's mouth dropped open at the rare and impossible things she saw me put on the bench. L'Arc stared at the things and I could see on his face that he wanted me to work on his weapon.

I created a chair and sat down. “All right, since your crystal is so rare, let's start with refining it.” I said and changed my shield to the Crystal Shield and fed the crystal to it. The shield changed slightly as the otherworldly crystal's properties and effects were added to its stats.

“AH!” Therese gasped and covered her face. Tears came to her eyes and she started to lightly sob.

“Relax.” I said and produced a copy of the crystal.

“Wh-what... what... how did you...” L'Arc stammered while Therese's crying came to a stop.

“It's part of the refinement process.” I said and laid the crystal on the bright green gem in the center of my shield. “Basic refinement.”

The crystal changed from a very rough shape into a smoother one.

“Normal refinement.” I said and the crystal changed once more to become almost smooth. “Advanced refinement.”

The crystal changed and became a perfect jewel for mounting.

“The internal abilities of the crystal seem to be mainly fire with a touch of air, so it will need a strong base that will protect you from both the fire and over-usage. It's a very powerful crystal.” I said and they watched as I constructed the base form for a bracelet by smelting her materials and mixed them with both platinum and gold.

I did the same refinement process on it as I did for the crystal and it finished with the perfect-sized hole in the center to mount the jewel into. Now that I had both parts, the enchanting could begin. Everyone stared as I worked on the jewel first to give it the best fire enchantments I knew, with a minor air enchantment, and powered it up.

Once it was done, I enchanted the bracelet with all of the enchantments I knew for strength, protection, magic charging, and to make it unbreakable. I added the jewel and the bracelet morphed around it to hug it and to hold it like a lover, because they were made to be together. Then it started to glow and it was a bit too intense for anyone to look at directly.

It had taken me about half an hour to create it and it had worked perfectly. The glow mostly faded and I examined it closely as I copied it.

“I think that's got it.” I said cast a diagnostic spell on it and the quality was 'Excellent'. “Yes, this was the best result. It's gathering ambient magic for itself already.”

“No! You can't be serious!” Therese exclaimed.

I smiled at her and stood as I picked up the accessory and walked over to her. I knelt on one knee and held it out to her with both hands. “Therese, I present to you the Enhanced Ruby Starfire Bracelet.”

Therese's hands shook slightly as she reached for it. When she touched it, she sucked in a sharp breath.

“May you both grow more powerful together.” I said, almost like a blessing.

Therese took it from my hands and hugged it to her chest. “This is wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”

“You shouldn't praise Hansen too much. It'll go right to his head.” Raphtalia joked and the other women laughed.

“I don't care! This jewel...” Therese's eyes were filled with tears again. “...it's filled with joy!”

“I'm glad you like it.” I said and she suddenly tossed a large bag of gold coins at me. “Hey, what the...”

“It's not enough, is it?” Therese asked and grabbed L'Arc's arm. “L'Arc! Give him all the money you have, too!”

Everyone started laughing and Therese and L'Arc looked confused.

I handed her back her sack of money. “I didn't make it for you, only for you to give me everything you have. That's not what friends do.”

They now looked shocked instead of confused.

“You provided me with materials I've never seen before and that's worth more to me than simple gold.” I said. “Please, keep your money and enjoy the gift.”

“A... a gift.” Therese whispered as more tears flowed down her cheeks. “You're giving it to me.”

I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly at her. “You would be paying me off for several years if I was an idiot and tried to charge you for it. How would you track me down for the payments?”

L'Arc barked a laugh. “Okay, that part I believe.”

“He really doesn't need the money.” Wyndia said. “He can make as much as he wants, anyway.”

I swatted at her ass and she yelped, then she wagged her tail happily. “No giving away secrets!”

“Sorry!” Wyndia said and didn't look sorry at all.

“You're committing fraud?” L'Arc asked with a frown.

It was my turn to bark a laugh at his indignation. “No, I have magic items that produce local currency daily. I try to not abuse them too much, unless we're in a less than prosperous town.”

“Then he buys up a bunch of local things and food and makes everyone happy!” Wyndia said. “He's the best and I love him!”

“I hear that all the time and I'm still not tired of hearing it.” I said and pulled Wyndia into a searingly passionate kiss. Her tail wagged so fast that it blew all the bedding off of the beds.

Iris laughed and caught her tail. “Warn us before doing that, Hansen.”

I broke the kiss and Wyndia looked very happy. “I'm sorry. I keep forgetting she does that.”

“Sure you do.” Raphtalia said and yawned. “It's time for bed.”

“Yes, dear.” I said and gave Wyndia a quick kiss, then gave Iris a passionate one and her flames flared up. “We'll switch tomorrow. We have a week of travelling by boat and lots of time to spend together.”

Iris nodded and went back to her chosen bed while Wyndia laid down on the bed next to her. The rest of my party prepared for bed as well as I gave Alta a quick and chaste kiss before I climbed onto the bed with Raphtalia.

I was soon asleep, because I didn't realize I had put a bit more effort into the bracelet than I should have. I had wanted to impress Therese and did my best, even if I did hold back with my ability to level the jewel up. I was sure that maxing the thing out wouldn't let her use it effectively, so I kept it at around her own level of 52.

L'Arc was at level 56, so they weren't wasting their time going to Cal Mira to level up. I wasn't going to reveal my methods of boosting that until they had been convinced to join my party. I could also replace them; but, I couldn't do that until they turned on me, which I suspect wouldn't be until the next wave.

*

“This place is so nice!” Filo exclaimed from the deck of the ship as it docked at the main island of the Archipelago.

“We're here to gather ingredients and items, so we can relax and have fun.” I reminded her.

“Why are we in full armor, then?” Filo asked.

“To make the best impression.” Lupin said. “Everyone is looking at us like we're the sun and they have to cover their eyes slightly.”

I chuckled and pat his shoulder. “Should we leave the ship first or wait for everyone else to disembark before we do?”

“Definitely first. I smell an important person is waiting for us.”

“First it is.” I said and we walked over to the side of the ship where the gangplank was. The other passengers parted for us and no one commented about it, which meant Lupin was right. They were all deferring to the best armored people on the ship. We went down the gangplank and a dark-haired man stood there with two guards.

“Welcome to the Cal Mira Resort, Shield Hero. I am the Earl of Habenburg and will escort the four legendary heroes on a short tour.”

I knew this man was appointed by the Queen herself and had been told to be accommodating. “Yeah, you're gong to have to be happy with just myself. The other three are indisposed.”

“Why do you say that?” The Earl asked and I pointed back at the ship.

Three stretchers carrying the three heroes were unloaded.

“Severe seasickness. It's not an ailment of anything, so it can't be healed in the traditional sense. They just have to let it run its course.” I said and the man chuckled.

“Very well. If your party would like to go on to the hotel, I can show you around.”

“Thank you.” I said and turned to address my party members. “If the rooms are already assigned, see which one has the best view. I want that one.”

Raphtalia nodded and gave me a quick kiss. “See you later.”

“OH, MY GOD!” Therese's voice yelled and we all turned to look at her. “You... you... you...”

“What is it, Therese?” L'Arc asked as the pair walked down the gangplank. They had left the room to change and were now all armored up as well.

“Th-those! Those jewels!” Therese said and pointed at our armor and weapons. “They're singing so strongly and they're so happy! Really, really happy!”

“We've killed a lot of monsters to level up.” Iris said. “Hansen enchanted them for us, too.”

“I always try to do my best for my friends.” I said and gave her a kiss. “I'm hoping I can pump everyone up some more if we find enough new materials for me to use.”

“We'll ask around and see where the highest level creatures are to hunt.” Lupin said. “I've been feeling stagnant for far too long.”

“I agree. I'll figure something out to change that soon.” I promised.

“If anyone can, it's you.” Raphtalia said and left with everyone.

“Where did you find so many perfect jewels?” Therese asked me.

“I would like to say it's a secret, except we found a huge cave filled with them and harvested tons of them for exactly what I've been using them for, weapon and armor enchantments.” I said. “After making that bracelet for you and realized that they can also be used to enhance and channel magic spells, I've added a few new accessories to my party.”

“You made more of these?” Therese asked as she carefully pet her new bracelet.

“What else do you think I've been doing when not spending time with my women?” I asked her and she blushed. “Don't be embarrassed about that. Wyndia likes to have an audience when we're having fun.”

Therese glanced at L'Arc and the taller man's face went a little red, too.

“Anyway, I've kept the good Earl here waiting long enough. You two have a good day relaxing and I'll see you tomorrow for the first excursion.”

“I thought you said you weren't here to level?” L'Arc asked.

“I'm not. The biggest monsters have the best loot drops and I can't wait to see what shields and powers I unlock.” I said and turned to the Earl as I produced a handful of solid gold slivers. “Please accept my apologies for the delay and this monetary gift.”

The Earl beamed a smile at me. “The Queen said you were quite generous.” He said and accepted the gold. “If you will follow me, I'll take you through to the main part of the town to the monument built to honor your first incarnation.”

“That sounds great! Thank you.” I said and followed the man and the two guards. I knew what I was going to find and I was sure that my party was going to be surprised.

After a quick tour of the town's main features with shops, food markets, and the temporary stalls that sellers from all over the world built for the Experience Gain Event, we stood in front of the monument and I read the inscription on the stone tablet. It gave me the secret to casting the Aura spell, which boosted everyone's stats in my party.

I would have to play with it and see if I could slip that into an enchanted bracelet like Therese's. A thirty percent boost to stats worked great as a spell. What would happen if everyone in my party wore the bracelets and then I cast the spell? A whole lot of compounded boosts, that's what would happen. I was definitely going to abuse this as much as possible.

I thanked the Earl again for the tour and went on my own back to the hotel to meet up with everyone. Most of us decided to do a bit of shopping, which ended up being a whole day thing. Filo begged me to buy the recipes for the new food dishes that she thought were tasty, which ended up being a whole lot of them. It made the cooks laugh as the little winged girl stuffed her face with their wares and they haggled with gusto over the prices.

We all went to bed that night and rested, after I had thoroughly satisfied Raphtalia, Iris, Wyndia, and Alta. I teasingly argued that we had an entire vacation to enjoy that and we didn't have to go all out on the very first night. I was quickly tied up and gagged, then they had their way with me again.

*

“Are you sure you don't want to come with us?” I asked Therese and L'Arc when we met up on the small boat dock.

“We're nowhere near ready for the hardest island so soon.” Therese admitted and L'Arc nodded.

“We wouldn't let anything happen to you.” Raphtalia said. “Even if you won't join the party, we can let you have most of the kills, as long as you let Hansen check out the loot afterwards.”

“You wouldn't want a share?” L'Arc asked.

“No, just checking them with my shield is enough.” I said.

“We're going to have a lot of fun hunting down the boss monsters!” Filo nearly shouted.

“You're too little to hunt anything.” L'Arc said and reached for her head to rub her hair.

Filo dodged it, smacked the hand away, and jumped up to kick him in the chest.

“OOOF!” L'Arc huffed as the air was knocked out of him and he was shoved backwards ten feet into the railing of the dock and he sat down with a heavy thump.

“That was only a tap.” Filo said, smugly.

Therese cast a healing spell on L'Arc and helped him stand up. “What level are you?”

“The same as everyone else. Level 100.” Filo said.

“That's not the impressive part.” I said. “Go ahead and show them. I have a pot of stew in storage.”

Filo grinned and moved away a bit. “Be prepared to be surprised!”

“Why? What could you possibly...” L'Arc stopped talking after a burst of feathers and a twelve foot tall and nearly completely round Filolial stood where the little girl was.

“I figured out that if she trains in her human form, her natural filolial form nearly doubles her gains.” I said and pet Filo's belly feathers before I took out a huge pot of stew for her.

“Thank you!” Filo said and dumped the steaming pot into her open beak and down her gullet. “That always tastes so good!”

Another burst of feathers later and she was the little girl again.

“It's too bad she's not a demi-human with the same experience traits.” Raphtalia said and hugged her. “She could be as big as the rest of us.”

“I'm bigger than all of you as a bird!” Filo said and Raphtalia nodded.

“If you join my party, you get a much bigger boost to your stats and abilities than just from my area of effect.” I said.

Therese gave L'Arc a look and then looked at me. “How about we work for a day or two and see how we do separately, then we'll meet up and compare.”

“If that's what you want to do.” I said and shook L'Arc's hand and took Therese's and kissed the back of it. “Just so you know, I'm not trying to impede you or stunt your growth. The world needs more fighters and stronger defenders. I have no problem helping you along to reach the level cap.”

The pair exchanged looks and looked back at me.

“We'll keep that in mind.” L'Arc said. “Our boat's over there.”

“Good luck and try to keep together without activating any swarms.” I cautioned them.

“We'll be okay.” Therese said and they walked across the dock to another boat.

“Rapthtalia.” I said and she made a light whistle sound. Her raven appeared and landed on her shoulder. She whispered instructions to it and it let out a caw sound before it flew up into the air and disappeared.

“I'll know it if they need your help.” Raphtalia said.

“Thank you.” I said and kissed her. “Okay, everyone. Pile into the boat and let's go have some fun.”

“YEAH!” They all yelled and we rode the boat over to the large island with a dormant volcano on it.

What followed was a day filled with swarming creatures and boss monsters. They were all a little weird, too. Giant penguins, giant squirrels, giant rabbits, and giant dogs were almost man-sized while the boss monsters were bigger than Filo in her Filolial Queen form. The best part about it all was that they spawned endlessly and you could continue to get drops from them.

The Giant Penguin gave an odd armor in the shape of a penguin suit. It had great stats, gave attack resistance, water resistance, HP recovery, Magic Up stats, automatic recovery if lost, a small skill adjustment, increased defense, sized itself to fit, increased underwater swim time, and gave a temporary race change to Penguin.

We kept fighting to get enough for everyone and my level went up some, thanks to all the swarms and boss deaths. I had to alter the suits and removed the race change option, though. I did not want to take the chance that it would alter my own abilities... or worse, remove them completely. The others agreed, especially Lupin. He didn't want to lose any of his racial traits, either.

The Giant Dog had wings and bull horns and it granted a heavy armor set, something called Karma Dog Claws, and an odd ore called Oreikul. I waited until we had nearly a ton of it before I combined it into a single mass, copied it, and stored it. I would wait until later to do the shield upgrades with the monster parts and things, because I knew how the girls were going to react.

The Giant Rabbit dropped Karma Rabbit Swords that were of a medium value and also dropped armor with medium stats. They would be great to sell for a quick profit to the adventurers that were too low level to make it to the bigger islands. Even selling them cheap would gain us a lot of money, not that we needed it. It was just so the adventurers wouldn't complain about charity.

The Giant Squirrel wasn't that big of a deal and only dropped armor with great stats and effects. It was while fighting them that I gained the skills 'Beast Awareness' and 'Heightened Reaction'. When combined with the speed from the rabbit armor and the heavy stats from the penguin armor, it made me practically untouchable.

Needless to say, we stayed on the island that evening. After making a delicious supper for everyone in my party, I added in all the extra bonuses and things into my normal armor. Once I had the process down to make it as efficient as possible, I upgraded everyone's armor as well. We didn't have to look like a penguin, a rabbit, a squirrel or a dog to benefit from the advanced abilities.

The sheer amount of loot we had gained in a single day with gold, jewels, ores, parts, weapons and armor, would have set us up like kings if we weren't already obscenely rich. All of the girls looked at the things like pretty baubles that didn't compare to the things I had made for them. The guys only saw the things as materials I could use to combine and make their own equipment better.

I set up the tower in a secluded spot and the rest of the party cleared out the area of the normal monsters that could be a threat if they gathered in larger numbers. Once we were relatively safe, Lupin took up a sentry position and the rest of us entered the tower to relax for the night.

An hour after that, Lupin raised the alarm and we all rushed out to confront whatever the threat was... and it was Therese and L'Arc. He held a giant scythe and Therese had her arms raised to attack with magic.

“We came looking for you when your boatman wasn't called to return for you.” L'Arc said.

I walked over to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you very much for your concern, my friend!” I said and took Therese's hand and kissed the back of it. “Thank you for risking your lives for us. We greatly appreciate it.”

“It... it was nothing.” Therese said.

“Nonsense! After we trampled over everything around here all day, I bet the monster respawns are a pretty high level.” I said and the two exchanged looks. “Have you eaten yet? I can whip something up.”

“Could you? We did miss supper.” Therese said.

“Of course! You know my friends won't refuse a late evening snack.” I said and waved at the tower. “Come on into the kitchen and I'll get it ready for you.”

“How did you find this place?” L'Arc asked as everyone went back inside the tower.

“You would be surprised about the things I've found during my travels.” I said and they sat at the large kitchen table. “Any preferences?”

“Chicken, please.” Therese said. “It's light and quick.”

“Not to mention tasty!” Wyndia said and sat down on the chair beside Therese. “I looove his chicken!”

“That sounds dirty when you say it like that, Wyndia.” Iris said and sat beside her.

“I know!” Wyndia said with a grin.

I chuckled and quickly cooking up a nice chicken and rice dish with vegetables and spicy sauce. I served it to everyone and they all made appropriate sounds of appreciation.

“How can you do that so quickly and still make it taste so good?” Therese asked and took another bite.

I tapped the shield on my arm. “I've got my cooking skills maxed out. I could serve the thing almost raw and the magic will fix the problems with it and make it into the best dish.”

“Isn't that cheating?” L'Arc asked.

“Only if I actually did that.” I said and sat down to eat. “I do everything properly. I just move so fast that it looks like I'm not really doing anything.”

“The giant rabbit and giant squirrel upgrades really enhance his base stats.” Rapthalia said. “Hansen added them to the shield.”

“I also added the modified armors and weapons, so I'm getting triple the stats from the one set of upgrades.” I said and ate some chicken. “I really am abusing the system for massive gains.”

“Can you tell us the secret?” L'Arc asked.

“Of what?” I asked back.

“How you levelled up so fast.” L'Arc responded. “I've seen the other heroes and they're only in their seventies.”

I smiled because after touching them both, I knew L'Arc was level 84 and Therese was level 80. “Well, they didn't know about skill and power sharing with their party until we met back in Siltvelt. They also reminded me of their own methods and I really abused it to a ridiculous degree and then combined them.”

“It really does feel like cheating, especially since we're all stuck at level 100 and can't benefit except through Hansen's shield bonus when he personally enhances our stats.” Raphtalia said.

“I've never purred so much and I never purr.” Alta said. “He's earned a lot of scratches from that.”

I barked a laugh. “You're all lucky that my defense is so high or you would have had a filleted Shield Hero a long time ago.”

Alta smiled and popped her tiger claws from her dainty hands that had immediately become full-sized white tiger paws.

L'Arc and Therese's mouth dropped open at the casual display of power.

“Show-off.” I said and leaned over to kiss her. “Are you in or out tonight?”

“Out. I can wait until morning.” Alta said and stood. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” We all said and several of the others finished eating and left the kitchen as well.

“You two are welcome to stay in one of the spare rooms.” I offered and they looked surprised. “If you need bed clothes to wear, I can make some for you.”

“Um, I have... special requirements.” Therese whispered.

“You don't need to worry about that. I have magical cloth that can change with the wearer.” I said and finished eating. “All of my party members have magical clothing tailor made for them.”

“You are full of surprises.” L'Arc said.

“When you have a filolial that can change forms and blows apart anything normal she wears, you have to make some allowances for magic disruption of clothing.” I said and sat there as I waited for everyone to finish eating. “Once I made the decision to go through the effort for one of my party members, it was just logical that I would do it for the others.”

Therese looked conflicted about something and kept looking at L'Arc and at me.

“If you're worried about having to be naked in front of me for fittings, don't be. I already have your measurements.” I said and she caught her breath. I chuckled at her surprised expression and L'Arc's angry one. “I didn't get them with nefarious means. I got them when I shook your hand.”

That made them look confused.

“I also know your levels and your specialties.” I said and they both gasped. “It's all right. It's just one of my many abilities.”

“But... you... you know...” Therese whispered.

“Yes, and I am quite pleased to have met you.” I said without saying that she was a person with a jewel inside her chest that acted like a magical core, the very thing the people of Melromarc thought the demi-humans had in their chests that would class them as creatures.

“Then you know who I am as well.” L'Arc said with a flat voice.

“Yes, your highness.” I said and he stiffened at me knowing he was the king of his nation back on his own world. “I also know you wield a vassal weapon.”

L'Arc jumped to his feet and the scythe appeared in his hand. “I suppose you know why we're here, too.”

No one else at the table reacted, except for Therese. She let out a startled sound and lifted an arm to point it at me. It just happened to be the arm with her new bracelet on it.

“Yes, it's the same reason that Glass was here during the last wave.” I said and the two gasped. “I told her that she was wrong and that we could work together to stop the waves on both of our worlds.”

“That's never going to work! We're already behind this world and we need to slow your progress down to save our own!” L'Arc exclaimed and took a fighting stance.

I chuckled and they looked surprised. “You're wielding a weapon against the homeowner after partaking in a meal at his table that he so graciously offered.”

Therese gasped as the jewel on her bracelet flared. “L'Arc, stop! You can't do this!”

“He knows and he'll try to stop us!” L'Arc said hefted his weapon. “We have to kill him or we lose!”

“I think she specifically means attacking me in my own home.” I said and he didn't look deterred. I didn't say anything else and no one moved to stop him.

L'Arc made an inarticulate sound and then jumped across the table to swipe his scythe at me. Or tried to. He stopped halfway and his glowing scythe started to shake.

“Ancient rules about breaking bread and then breaking those rules to attack. It's a hefty penalty that you seemed to be willing to pay.” I said and plucked the weapon out of his hand.

“NO!” Therese yelled and she lunged to her feet. Her bracelet glowed and she froze still as well.

“You were so quick to assume that a stated friend would betray you. Is it because you were going to attack me during the next wave?” I asked her and she blushed. “You feel guilty about it and you'll do it anyway, just because someone told you to? Are you unable to think for yourselves?”

Neither of them said anything.

“I hope when Glass shows up again that she's thought about my offer and will accept it.” I said and created a Dementor, then held out the scythe to it. “You should enjoy this.”

The Dementor made a pleased sound and kissed the jewel on the scythe. The thing glowed red and then an unholy scream came from it. The Dementor shivered and split as the glow faded, then they both looked at me.

“I'll have another in my possession soon. Until then, please roam and seek out the criminals in the town.” I gave them a rundown of the rules and they looked happy. “Go have fun.”

Both creatures nodded and floated out the open window. The looks on Therese's and L'Arc's faces were priceless.

“Like I told you, I have many abilities.” I said and examined the scythe. “Are you interested in holding it again, now that the influencing spirit inside has been cleansed and removed?”

L-Arc opened his mouth to respond and then closed it again.

“So, you realized the spell's not stopping you from talking. You are.” I said and he nodded. “Then you have a choice to make. It's a fairly simple one.”

“Just put them in Azkaban. You know they won't accept.” Raphtalia said. “They've done too much already to go back now.”

I gave her a look and she shrugged.

“Glass is going to refuse, unless you show her that we are all more powerful together.” Iris said and motioned to the two otherworldly heroes. “If these are supposed to be heroes of their world, that go around killing other heroes so that more people will die instead of trying to save them all, then there's not much hope for the others.”

“What do you suggest?” I asked her.

“Let them go and hope they are smart enough to join the winning side when the next wave starts. If they don't, you can send them off to prison and we can go from there.”

“Minimum security for Therese.” Wyndia said. “She's too soft to survive the general area.”

“Agreed.” Raphtalia and Iris responded as one.

“Do you think you should remove her jewels before...” Raphtalia started to say.

“NO!” Therese yelled and started to cry. “You can't take my friends! You can't! You can't!”

I walked around the table to stand next to her. “She only meant taking them off of your body so you can't cast spells through them. I would never separate them from you.”

Therese was sobbing now and her gems varied with different glows.

I took out a brilliant cut sapphire jewel that was the size of my palm and Therese screamed a little at it. “I know you can talk to them, so ask it what life has been like with me.” I said and touched it to the cheek of her face.

Therese let out a whimper and closed her eyes. Her tears slowed down and then she opened her eyes to look at me. “You took that from a world so far away that I can't fathom it.”

“It's from an asteroid belt around a planet, actually.” I said and she shook her head. “Ah, I see. That's the part you can't fathom. Space travel isn't even a story here.”

“It is now.” Raphtalia said with a soft laugh. “Both Melty and Filo have been spreading it around.”

That made me laugh as I imagined them in a group of adults and told them the fantastical story of things above the sky.

“Look, I'm not a bad guy, even though I've done a lot of bad things.” I said and gave Therese and L'Arc a pointed look. “However, going around killing people in the hopes that they fall behind in defeneding their world from the devastating attacks that plague it, makes you both horrible people.”

“N-no, we... we just want to save...” Therese whispered.

“You want to have millions of people die, just so your millions will live on whatever world ends up being the winner.” I said and she looked both surprised and sad. “I understand trying to save the people that you can, I really do.” I took the sapphire from her cheek and Therese let out a sob. “Sacrificing the same amount of people for it to happen is not the way to go about it.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” L'Arc asked.

“You fight for everyone to live. You come to the winning side and we all work together to end the waves before both worlds are too devastated for it to matter who wins.”

Both of them looked like they were not going to accept.

“So, Iris was right. You're going to refuse, even though everything I've said is perfectly reasonable and seems like everything you could ever want. Better equipment, enhanced weapons and accessories, and a lot of strong people to help you fight.” I said and they both looked guilty. I placed the large scythe in L'Arc's hands and shook my head at them. “I rescind my good faith invitation for you to stay under my roof.”

Therese let out a startled sound as she was picked up by magic and then she and L'Arc were tossed out through the now open kitchen door. They landed in a heap just outside the door.

I walked over to it and watched them pick themselves up. “I really hope you think over my offer, because the only thing better than having powerful friends, is having more of them.”

L'Arc hefted his scythe and glared at me. “What's to stop me from attacking you now?”

I chuckled and waved at the tower. “You don't serously think the tower is unprotected, do you? What just happened to you in the kitchen?”

“I've cut buildings down before.” L'Arc said and his weapon started to glow.

“I know. I can see it your eyes. You've killed a lot of people.” I said and he nodded. “It's just too bad that you're not as ruthless as I can be.”

“What do you mean?” L'Arc asked.

“No! Stop!” Therese exclaimed as I used the Force to grip the scythe.

“You can feel that?” I asked and she nodded. “Then you know I'm not using it to its full potential.”

L'Arc let out a startled sound when the blade of the large scythe bent into a complete circle and the point touched the handle, which put the cutting side completely on the inside.

“It should take two days to heal itself. I hope you have a backup weapon to use.” I said and closed the door. I stood there and listened to the two of them debate what to do next and I wasn't surprised when they took out bedrolls and essentially camped on my doorstep.

“Let's go to bed.” Raphtalia said and I nodded in agreement.

*

The next day, we went back to the main island where the town was and went to the resort part of the Cal Mira Archipelago. Seeing the women I was sleeping with in bathing suits and bikinis, made me stand at attention and salute them. The four of them appreciated this, because even though we slept together regularly, they didn't want to be taken for granted.

Even Filo and Melty were there wearing cute two piece swimsuits with frills all over them. I complimented the both of them about how pretty they were and only Melty blushed.

By lunchtime, Filo had found the underwater temple on a sunken island and I made everyone lunch before we all swam down into the temple that had air trapped inside. None of us were surprised at the giant Dragon Hourglass that was there.

“You really do know a lot of what's going to happen.” Raphtalia said.

“Yes, and we only have four days to prepare for this surprise wave.” I said with a smirk.

Raphtalia smacked my arm. “Surprise, my butt!”

“Okay.” I said and bent her over my knee and kissed both cheeks. “Surprise!”

That made everyone laugh as Rapthalia smacked me several times. “That's not what I meant!”

“I know.” I said and thought about the situation. “We have a choice to make. Do we keep quiet about this and handle it ourselves, or do we warn everyone and hope they don't panic?”

“Definitely the second one.” Iris said. “It will give the tourists a chance to return to the main town and you can shield them.”

“Good point.” I said. “Is everyone happy with their class builds? Now would be a good time to make any changes.”

They all shook their heads.

“If everyone's done here, let's go loot the underwater city.” I said and they cheered.

*

“You're going to shield the entire town?” The Queen asked as the counter dropped down for the next wave to start. There was half an hour left.

“I'm sure we need a ship as a base, just because the sunken island is out in the water over there.” I said and pat my shield. “I've added the ship as essential equipment, so it should transport with us.”

“Are you sure you want to come with us? You're the queen of a country.” Raphtalia asked.

“I would be remiss in my duties to the people if I abandoned them.” Queen Mirellia said and Melty nodded. “I can work some hefty magic to help you.”

I smiled and looked at Filo. “Stay beside Melty and the Queen. They are your responsibility.”

“I won't let you down, Master!” Filo exclaimed.

I didn't remind her that she abandoned me for Melty, mainly because I didn't want to hurt her feelings. She would also need someone to look after her when I left. Raphtalia and the others would do a good job; but, having a royal friend could help Filo later on.

“L'Arc and Therese are wearing disguises and are hiding in the large group of adventurers.” Lupin said.

“Good. Get ready to handle them when they turn on us.” I said.

“You really expect them to?” The Queen asked.

“Just as I expected Malty and your husband to be horrible people. And the Regent. You really have a huge cesspool of bad people in political power in Melromarc.” I said and she sighed.

“My sole trusted advisor died in the first wave and no one informed me. Everything that happened since then, including summoning you, was without my knowledge.” The Queen said.

“Then your shadow maids are not doing their jobs properly.” I said and a soft gasp came from a nearby shadow. “Malty has changed and your husband is in prison. I hope you have been using that to your advantage.”

“Yes, I've decided to send Malty to Faubrey and...”

I sighed and shook my head at her. “You are an idiot.”

The Queen scowled at me. “She has caused me and my country untold harm and she will be punished for it!”

“No, your daughter caused that. She's in prison with your bastard of a husband. Malty is my creation and you will do nothing against her.” I said and glared at the woman. “Do you understand? You are not allowed to harm her.”

The Queen glanced to the side and several shadow maids appeared. “You may be the best of the summoned heroes; but, you cannot dictate to a ruler of a nation.”

“I was talking to a mother and not a ruler.” I said and she huffed. “Perhaps a few weeks in prison will soften your opinion on what I can dictate?”

“How dare you threaten...”

I waved a hand over her and she popped away.

The shadow maids let out sounds of pain and dropped to their knees.

“She bound you?” I asked and they nodded. “Then you can go to her. If you try to escape, the Dementors will suck out your souls.”

The maids nodded and I sent them to the Queen.

“John, you can't do this!” Melty exclaimed.

“Why not, your highness? With the queen in prison, you are the one in charge now.” I said. “Unless you want me to make a magical clone of her, the duty of protecting the people and the country falls to you.”

“I... I will need the clone... only for important meetings.” Melty whispered.

I smiled at her and created the magical clone. “It will be so.”

The new queen looked conflicted about the relationship, until the queen knelt and transferred the power of rule to her. Melty's unsureness evaporated and she looked confident.

“Be sure to jump to the monument and cast your shield at the first sign of the wave.” Melty ordered me.

“Yes, your highness.” I said and bowed my head to her.

We all waited patiently while the countdown reached a minute left.

“We're getting close.” Raphtalia said as her tail fluffed out. “That danger sense is really handy.”

“It really is.” I said and changed my shield to show an hourglass. “Get ready for transport, everyone!”

The adventurers cheered and drew ranged weapons and shields while the magic users prepared spells.

The countdown his zero and we all disappeared with the ship and reappeared in the bay over the sunken island. The sky cracked open and I jumped back to the Cal Mira town center. It was packed with people and I reassured them it was all going to be okay before I cast the protective shield. They all gasped at the giant bluish-colored dome that appeared and covered the town.

I ignored their shouts of surprise and jumped back to the ship. “Remember! It's all water-based creatures! Ice and Fire are the best magic against them! Do your best and save your world!”

They all cheered as the wave creatures dropped from the sky in the tens of thousands.

“Is it just me or is this wave a lot smaller than it should be?” I asked and my party gave me shakes of their heads. “Higher levels than normal, maybe?”

Lupin looked up and took a long sniff at the approaching creatures. “Level 80s at minimum.”

“Spread the word. Only high level people at the front and only combined attacks by the lower levels from behind.” I ordered and he took off to let everyone know.

“Here they come!” Wyndia said and turned around. “Hansen! Kiss me!”

I chuckled at her prompting and gave her a passionate kiss as I changed to the Thunder Shield. I even caressed her breasts with the Force. Her tail wagged faster than most people could see and a hurricane force wind hit the incoming creatures and blew hundreds of them off-course and most of them landed badly and hurt themselves.

“Nice shot, sweetheart.” I said and rubbed her head. “Good girl!”

Wyndia giggled and her tail created another blast of wind that knocked even more creatures for a loop.

Then the real fighting began.

*

Half an hour later and several Lightning Blasts to the seas to kill massive amounts of the creatures, the boss finally showed up. It was a Narwhal, or a giant whale with a unicorn horn. It's target was the ship the heroes and adventurers were on and it attacked with ferocity.

To my surprise, Therese and L'Arc helped to deflect the first attack, then L'Arc pleaded with me to lure it to the surface for him to defeat it. That part didn't surprise me, because he would get the power-up rewards and the main share of the loot, so I refused. He turned his scythe around and lunged at me.

I used my basic shield to deflect his shot, which angered him, then I punched him in the face. His head snapped to the side and his eyes rolled up into his head as he dropped to the deck of the ship, unconscious. I took the scythe from his hand and fed it to my shield.

“NO!” Therese yelled and tried to cast a magic firestorm on me... and the spell she chanted had no effect.

When she talked to her jewels, they refused to harm me. I had won their allegiance by producing the Enhanced Ruby Starfire Bracelet and they wanted to be enhanced as well. They knew I wouldn't do that if they attacked me.

Therese walked over to L'Arc and knelt by him. “I'm so sorry, L'Arc. I couldn't protect you.”

“I warned you.” I said and reached out with the Force. I grabbed the giant whale and lifted it out of the water, then I snapped it in half to kill it, to everyone's shock. The wave didn't end and only the people in my party weren't surprised by this.

“When do you think she'll show?” Raphtalia asked.

“I'd say in a minute. L'Arc and Therese were supposed to put up a fight and Glass was supposed to make a dramatic entrance.” I said and shot another Lightning Blast into the water to kill a bunch more of the smaller creatures. “She didn't expect for them to be handled so easily.”

“No, I did not.” Glass said as she appeared in the air above the ship. “I had hoped they would have levelled up more.”

“They refused my offer to do that for them and then attacked me in my own home after sharing a meal.” I said and she hissed. “Magic stopped them and I kicked them out.”

“Idiots.” Glass said and took a fighting stance. “I will have to deal with you now.”

I flew up into the air towards her and she did several moves and chanted a spell. I used my shield to absorb it and she looked shocked. “Yes, I've upgraded a lot since the last time I saw you.”

Glass gave me a penetrating stare as I floated twenty feet in front of her. “I will use my most powerful spell to crack your defense!”

“I'd rather take you to bed and crack your defenses that way.” I responded.

Glass blushed and did another series of moves. “Rupture-Stance Rondo - Tortoise Shell Cracker!”

I chuckled and took it head on with my Crystal Shield and absorbed the energy. It gave me two more levels, thanks to the upgraded shield and its energy absorption ability. The look on Glass' face was priceless.

“So, have you considered my offer?” I asked.

“I refuse! My world must live!” Glass exclaimed and started to do another fighting stance. “Zero-Stance Rondo - Reverse Four Seasons!”

“Are you an idiot like L'Arc?” I asked after absorbing the powerful shot. “Or maybe you need a bit of a helping hand with your vassal weapon?”

“What do you mea-AHHHH!” Glass screamed when a Dementor appeared beside her. Before she could do more than swat at the thing, it latched onto her fan weapon and it glowed blue. The Dementor split and they both looked at her with hunger on their faces.

“You have one last chance. Fight with me or pay for your crimes.” I said.

“I will never submit to someone like you!” Glass spat.

I sighed and used the Force to take her weapon from her.

Glass yelled in surprise as I caught it and then she screamed when I fed it to my shield.

“Enjoy your time in prison.” I said and sent her to Azkaban. I told the two Dementors the rules and sent them on their way before I flew down to L'Arc and saw that he was regaining consciousness. “Well? Anything to say for yourself?”

“I can't let my nation perish because of sentimentality. I will kill you! You don't even use a weapon!”

“Who needs a weapon when enemies like you always underestimate an overwhelming defense?”

“Please... don't. Don't.” Therese whispered.

“You're an exception, since you're his companion. You can't really go against him or stop yourself from trying to defend him.” I said and pointed at L'Arc. “Say hello to Glass for me.”

He popped away to Azkaban prison and Therese started crying.

“Hey, it's okay. He's not dead. He's just in an experience mining machine that I've created.” I said and pat her shoulder. “With him out of the way, can you make your own decisions now?”

Therese shook her head. “My people live within his country's mountains. We are his vassals and...”

“...you're pledged to his service.” Raphtalia said. “Can you at least stay out of the conflict?”

“No, I've sworn to...”

“I'm sorry.” I said and used the Force to pull off all of her jewellery and then put them inside a sealed and unbreakable glass container.

Therese burst out crying and hugged herself, as if she was naked. In some respects, she was. I didn't want her to suffer, so I added the giant sapphire jewel to the case and then handed it to her. She looked surprised that I would do that.

“I told you, I'm not the bad guy. I'm trying to save everyone and not just the people of this world. That you are too shortsighted to believe it, is not my problem. Not anymore.” I said and lightly pet her head. “I'm sending you to the administration section. The Dementors don't go there, so you'll be alone with just your jewels to keep you company.”

“Wh-why... why...”

“You are as innocent in this whole thing as your jewellery.” I said and created a Dragon Emperor Core.

Therese gasped and stared at the thing.

“You can have this as a peace offering.” I said and popped it into the case.

The jewels inside glowed brightly and the core started to dim and shrink.

“Okay, I didn't expect that.” I said, because the jewels were absorbing the core's energy. “Good for you! I'm glad you chose to accept the gift.”

“I... I... I don't know what to say.” Therese whispered.

I created a Dragon Heart stone and handed it to her. “Why don't you join your friends in upgrading yourself?”

Therese gasped once more and looked at my face. “Why didn't you offer this before?”

“You would have used them against me, or worse, given them to L'Arc for him to use against me.” I said and saw the truth on her face. “Go to prison and try to reconsider your decisions. Sometimes killing is necessary and we've all done it. Causing massive destruction just because you want it to happen to someone else, is not a good enough reason.”

Therese hugged the Dragon Heart stone to her chest and nodded.

I popped her away and looked around. The wave had ended and the adventurers were swimming in the waters to collect the loot from the many sea monsters that had come through the portals and had died because of it.

“Make sure they bring me at least one of everything.” I said to my party. “If it's a singular item from a loot drop, tell them I just want to examine it.”

“We know.” They all said and spread out to let everyone know.

I fed several of the giant whale parts into my shield, as well as its monster core. I also added the loot and reproduced it for everyone to get a share. A few of the normal adventurers gave me odd looks as I did that.

“There's enough whale parts for everyone to have a share. The hide alone will make great under-armor and the meat will make a great main dish for a cookout celebration on the beach.” I told them and they all started smiling as they secured the beast's body to the back of the ship.

Word of my cooking offer spread quickly and everyone worked twice as hard to gather everything up. While they did that, I popped back to the center of the town in Cal Mira and everyone there cheered for me. I thanked them and disabled the protective shield, regained a lot of spent MP and SP points, and jumped back to the ship.

Piles and piles of items and loot were brought onboard and everyone looked extremely happy. I used the Force to touch it all and then donated my share to Melty and her country of Melromarc. She was very pleased by this and hugged me tightly, then she gasped and let me go with a blush, because she had forgotten that she was in public.

“All right, everyone. Let's head back to shore.” I said and the crew turned the ship around and we headed to shore. I cast several spells to speed it up and we arrived a short time later.

The cookout was a huge success and everyone was happy with the split of the loot, because everyone had fought and participated, which meant they all had an equal share, even from the larger creatures and the main boss, the narwhal. It was also delicious.

The next day, the Queen called for a conference between the four cardinal heroes and their parties. Only I knew that it was Melty calling the shots, though.

“I've seen you all fight now and I'm a little disappointed in a few of you.” The Queen said and a lot of the people gathered were frowning. “Sword Hero, your swordsmanship is lacking. You rely too much on your power moves and your attacks lack precision.”

“I can't argue against that. I am letting my weapon lead in my attacks.” The Sword Hero said.

“Bow Hero, you are letting your long range attacks be your only attacks. I've seen you let closer targets go unmolested, which would have endangered the ship we were on, if not for the Shield Hero's Lightning Barrages.”

“That's what my party is for. They make up for my deficiencies.” The Bow Hero said.

“Spear Hero, you actually did fairly well, even if you left yourself completely unprotected when you attacked. If Malty wasn't watching your back, you would have been fish food.”

“That's what she's there for.” The Spear Hero said and gave First Princess a passionate kiss. “I couldn't be as effective without her and the rest of my party.”

The Queen looked at me. “Shield Hero, you impress us each time you fight.”

“Only because I can't force some people to acknowledge my awesome skills and my superior fighting knowledge without them seeing it for themselves.” I said and everyone gave me an odd look. “I'm not bragging. I can kick everyone's ass with one hand tied behind my back.”

“The one with the shield?” One of the Spear Hero's party members asked and everyone laughed.

“Actually, yes.” I said and he looked surprised. “I know eighteen forms of martial arts and eight major weapon fighting techniques. Most I can do with only one arm.”

“How can you know weapon fighting? You only use a shield.” The soldier in the Spear Hero's party asked.

“I was summoned here. I have lots of knowledge that doesn't involve the shield at all.” I said. “As I've progressed in levels, more and more of that information has been unlocked for me to use.”

“It really did limit you at the beginning.” Raphtalia said.

“A lot more than I suspected, since I didn't remember not remembering things.” I said and she gave me a quick hug. “I would have offered to teach everyone a long time ago if I had remembered back then and I could actually hold a weapon long enough to show you.”

“There's no need for that, Shield Hero. I've arranged for the best trainers. When we go back to the castle, you will all receive the best training in the country.” The Queen said.

“Does that mean the Experience Event is over?” One of the women asked.

“Yes, Cal Mira will be exclusively a resort once more.” The Queen responded.

“When do we leave for the castle city?” The Spear Hero asked.

“I have another meeting tomorrow with the Earl about the success of this year's event, so the next day.”

“That's two whole days of actual vacation!” One of the women exclaimed. “Let's go! I need to relax on that big beach!”

A bunch of the others laughed and agreed.

“Then I'll see you all in the caravan in two days time.” The Queen said and everyone except Melty and myself left the meeting room.

“Hansen, are you sure you want to come back with us?” Melty asked.

“I have to. You need access to the Queen's information network and I need to check on my Dementor scouts. Since we both used Melromarc as the starting point for them, we need to be there to receive the reports.”

Melty stepped close to me and put her hands on my shoulders. With me sitting down, we were the same height. “I know you gave your word that you would no longer help my country to fight the waves...”

“My opinion won't change. What I said about all of your politicians being corrupt is still true. I refuse to help a country that is determined to rip me off and never apologize for how they treated me.”

Melty opened her mouth and I put a finger on her lips.

“That I had to prompt you to do it, means you're almost as bad as them. You haven't once considered apologizing to me or reimbursing me for all of my troubles and being robbed, even before I put you into the main position of power.” I said and tears came to her eyes.

“Hmm mmm hm.” Melty mumbled.

“I know you've had a lot to deal with in your life; but, you're so used to going along with the status quo that with you in control of everything, you haven't done anything to change how things are done.” I said and she looked sad. “I shouldn't have had to tell you that, because you've been on the receiving end of the mistreatment. You still haven't tried to curtail anything or put rules in place to do it for you.”

The tears rolled down her face and she trembled a little.

“I'm not admonishing you, even if it sounds like it. I'm just telling you the truth. You are the ruling monarch of the country and you know the power that entails... and you're not using it.” I said and took her into a hug to let her cry.

Melty held onto me and cried for about ten minutes before she calmed down. “I promise to do better from now on.”

“That's all anyone can ask of you.” I said and let her go. “I need to catch up to the others.”

“I'll look after her.” Queen said.

I nodded and tried to stand up, only Melty didn't let me go. “Melty...”

“Is what you said before true? You would have married me if you were going to stay?” Melty asked.

I sighed. “I shouldn't have told you that. Now you're not going to look for someone else and the royal family is going to end with you.”

“You can marry me before you leave.” Melty said.

“I'm sorry, that's not going to work.” I said. “I'm sure that when my scouts report in, I'm going to be very busy cleaning this world up.”

“What about after that?” Melty asked.

“After that, assuming I can secure the proper help, I'll be going to Glass' world.”

“No!” Melty gasped. “You can't leave so soon!”

“I've already secured three of their heroes already. With them here, their own waves are not being fought. I have to give their people a chance to survive. I'm going to prove I'm better than them by giving their people the very chance they were going to deny us.”

“You can't leave! What if the wave hits while you're gone? Who's going to defend this world?” Melty asked.

I couldn't tell her that she'll know the reason as soon as she heard from the shadow maids. “I have a feeling the waves as we know them are going to change.”

Melty gave me a searching look. “You know something about that, don't you?”

“I know a lot of things.” I responded.

“Shield Hero, tell me what's going on!” Melty ordered, apparently in her official capacity as Melromarc's ruler, because I felt a little tingle of compulsion magic.

“I refuse.” I said with a shake of my head. “That you didn't ask nicely and tried to force me to tell you, means you're still not thinking properly.” I gently pushed her off of me and stood as I gave her a glare. “I think you need some time alone to think about what you just did.”

Melty glared back. “If you were just honest from the start, I wouldn't have to try to compel you!”

“Being honest and telling you everything, are two very different things, Second Princess.” I responded and she caught her breath at me using her title in private and not her name. “Filo will also be riding with me in my wagon.”

“No! You can't take my only friend from me!” Melty shouted.

I sighed, as did Queen. “That you believe that, means you are not the person I thought you were.”

Melty looked shocked at my words.

“I hope you enjoy these last two days of vacation without your 'only' friend by your side.” I said, quite pointedly, and walked out of the room. I stopped just out of sight to listen.

“Why would you say such things to him?” Queen asked her.

“Filo really is my only friend.” Melty said. “She doesn't judge me or asks things of me.”

Queen sighed again. “For someone so smart, you are completely missing the point of the conversation.”

“Then explain it to me, mother.” Melty said, derisively.

“Very well, daughter.” Queen said, just as derisively. “You just told the only hero who cares about you and has done nothing but be kind and caring to you, that he was not your friend and only his filolial pet is worth your time to be around.”

Melty didn't respond.

“I see. You really do believe that. You don't consider him a friend, despite all he has done for you and Melromarc, even after the very generous donation he made of the ultra rare narwhal parts and treasure?”

“He said it was my just due.” Melty said.

“He was being polite in public.” Queen said. “His tone of voice said it was a much more intimate gift than the situation could imply.”

“How would you know that?” Melty asked.

“I actually listened to what he said.” Queen said. “That you still don't consider him worthy of your time and yet want to marry him, means you are as much your mother's daughter as the original Malty is.”

Melty caught her breath.

“You are cunning, manipulative, and willing to marry the strongest hero, no matter how old he is, just to make your country look stronger in the eyes of the world.” Queen said. “The problem you have just discovered is that you mistook Hansen for a husband to be used and manipulated, instead of letting him be the trusted advisor that Lord Seaetto used to be before he died.”

“N-no, I... he said...” Melty stammered.

“It doesn't matter what he said. You've made your opinion of his usefulness quite clear. He is a tool for you to use to save your country and his own feelings on the matter, mean very little to you.”

“I never said that!” Melty gasped.

“He's been more of a friend to you than Filo ever has and you only care that he can stop Filo from spending time with you.” Queen said and Melty didn't say anything. “I'm more sorry than I can say that you have made a terrible mistake with your careless words this day.”

“I will send for him and apologize immediately.” Melty said.

“Really? What will you apologize for? That you only want Filo as a friend or that you only want to manipulate him into keeping him around to keep Filo around?”

“I will tell him I consider him a friend.” Melty said.

Queen laughed. “Melty, Melty, Melty. You already blew that chance. He won't listen to you at all if you try to tell him that.”

“I am devoted to him! And his party! He is essential to this world's defense!” Melty exclaimed.

Queen sighed once more. “That is the problem you have. You still view him as an asset first before considering the man he is. You are not thinking about his feelings at all, only your needs as a monarch and his usefulness.”

“He was summoned to protect this world and he has to do it. It's part of the spell.” Melty confirmed.

“Yes, he does. And he will.” Queen said. “The problem is, will he bother saving the ignorant people on this world or just the world itself?”

Melty sucked in a sharp breath. “The people make up the world! It would be nothing without the people!”

“That you finally realized that is good. That you are not willing to accept that Hansen is also a person and needs saving as well, means you are far from believing that he is a friend.” Queen said. “Why would you think he would accept being your husband if you are not even friends?”

“Being friends isn't a requirement. My parents aren't friends.” Melty said.

“Yes, and look what happened with that. He betrayed the country and his family, which included you, because he considered his first daughter to be more important than everything else. He almost plunged this whole world into war because of his treatment of the Shield Hero.” Queen said. “Mirellia would have had them killed if the Shield Hero hadn't put them in prison.”

Melty didn't speak, which meant she knew that was true.

“I'm glad Hansen didn't refuse to return to Melromarc for the training. If he had, then we would have looked very bad in the eyes of the population.”

“Why?” Melty asked.

“He's still considered a traitor by the country.” Queen said and Melty caught her breath. “Now you know why he was upset by your words. Since you aren't his friend, he knew you would continue to do nothing to help him.”

“I said I would do better!” Melty said, almost in a shout.

“But not this. You know he can still be manipulated, because he can't travel without either you or myself being with him. He would be arrested by the very first guard patrol he came across.”

Melty didn't say anything and the Queen sighed.

“You are falling into the same patterns your parents were trapped by. You think you have power over him and you believe you can have him do what you want. You are forgetting one simple fact, however.”

“What's that?” Melty asked.

“He can easily replace you as he did the rest of your family and all of this mess disappears as if it didn't exist.” Queen said. “You have two days here and the rest of the long and lonely trip back to the castle to think about what you've done.”

I had heard enough and went to go meet up with the others. We had two days of beach, bikinis, and fun to have before we joined the caravan to head back to Melromarc Castle.

*

Filo wasn't happy about not spending the time with Melty. She pouted, shouted angrily when asked something, and wouldn't eat properly. After three days of travelling, Raphtalia had enough of her behavior and confronted her when we had stopped for the night to rest.

“Filo, why are you upset that John wants to spend time with you?” Raphtalia asked her.

“I'm not! I'm upset that I can't spend it with Melty!” Filo shouted.

Raphtalia frowned. “So, you don't care about spending time with your master and only want to spend time with your friend?”

“Yes!” Filo exclaimed and then her slave crest started to spark. “OWWW!”

“You have ignored John ever since you met Melty!” Raphtalia said loudly. “Your crest is showing you how defiant you've been and he hasn't pointed it out to you, because he knows how much you like her.”

“Make it STOP!” Filo yelled as her chest kept sparking.

“Only you can do that.” Iris said. “You sit here, openly defying the man that raised you, for a girl that doesn't even consider him... or any of us... as friends.”

“No! She likes all of us! She said so!” Filo shouted and her crest sparked even more.

“She's not going to get it if you don't spell it out for her.” Lupin said and looked at the crying blonde-haired girl. “You abandoned your master for a friend. The crest is hurting you for it, because you know you have and won't admit it.”

“I... I... no! I didn't abandon... AHHHH!” Filo screamed as the sparks from the crest tripled.

I sighed and walked over to her. She glared at me as she struggled under the slave crest, so I touched the crest and deactivated its punishment aspect.

“GAH!” Filo gasped and fell to the floor as if her strings had been cut. She cried and hugged herself as she shivered from aftershocks.

“I warned you that you should have told her a long time ago.” Lupin said. “She's too set in her ways.”

I looked down at Filo and she looked back at me. “You want to switch masters, don't you?”

“Yes!” Filo exclaimed.

“I told you.” Lupin said. “She has too much fun with Melty to stay loyal to you, even though you've given her everything and she wouldn't exist without you.”

“Melty must have poisoned her mind against you.” Iris said. “Can you check and see?”

“No! I refuse to let you!” Filo said and changed into her big bird form and prepared to attack.

“Filo! As your master, I order you to change into your human form and to stay that way until I order you to change.” I said.

Filo screamed in agony as the crest activated and forced her to revert back into her human form. She slumped to the floor, exhausted, because she had fought the order.

I rolled her over and she looked angry. “I don't need to delve into your mind, do I?”

“No! She told me that you were going to leave me alone when you end the waves! You're going to break your promise to me! You promised! You promised!” Filo shouted.

Everyone's faces changed to guilty looks.

“Filo...” I started to say.

“Melty will always be there for me! She's the next queen and I'm a queen and we're going to rule the world together! We're going to be together forever and ever and ever! Nothing will keep us apart! Except you! You're keeping me from her!”

I knelt there and stared into her defiant eyes. This was going a lot different than the story I had read. Filo was supposed to be completely loyal to me and she wasn't, because I had let her spend too much time with Melty, who had filled her head with venom and hate towards me.

“You are not worthy to be a queen.” A soft female voice said and everyone except me turned to look at the young woman that sat on the living room's couch in the temporary tower. “You are powerful and you can fight; but, you sacrificed your loyalty to your family for the faint hope that a friend will treat you better when the waves end. That makes you too stupid to rule our race as my successor.”

Nearly everyone gasped at her words.

“You've been following us for a while Fitoria, Queen of the Filolials.” I said and didn't look at her.

“You knew?” Fitoria asked.

“No, I suspected. You don't show up on any of the things I have available to me.” I said and touched her with a tendril of the Force.

“Ohhh, that's nice. What is that?” Fitoria asked and her hands seemed to grab onto it and she stroked it.

“It's called the Force. It's a fundamental aspect of the universe.” I said and felt my erection grow from her caresses. That was definitely new.

“Why do you not look at me?” Fitoria asked and I heard the curiosity in her voice.

“I'm afraid your ageless beauty will entrance me like the last Shield Hero.” I said, completely honestly.

Fitoria laughed softly and her hands continued to rub the tendril of unseen Force. “I saw him as a father and he treated me like a daughter, right up until he died.”

“Then you realized the truth.” I said. It was quite similar to myself and River in the Firefly universe.

“Yes, I only got to kiss him before I buried him.” Fitoria said with a sigh.

“I can't be him.” I told her.

“You could have been for Filo.” Fitoria said.

“No, I'm not staying and I've made no secret of that. I wasn't going to break my promise, though. She had a family already with all of us and she would never be alone. I was also going to remove her crest and leave her with Melty, so they could be together without restrictions.”

“That's why you never discouraged her.” Raphtalia said in understanding.

“I had hoped Filo would develop many friendships, especially back in your home village with it been rebuilt and protected. I never thought that Melty would use her friendship to turn Filo against me and hurt her by having her hurt me in return.”

“Your view of humanity is a refreshing one.” Fitoria said and hugged the tendril of Force to her chest. “Why are you leaving this available for me to play with?”

“I don't know.” I said and stood up. “Are you here to discipline me or Filo?”

“That depends. Do you regret your decisions concerning her?” Fitoria asked me.

“Only that it didn't work like I had hoped.”

“Will you alter her mind to fix the mistakes?” Fitoria asked and squeezed the tendril tightly.

“No, it's much too late to do so. She fully believes I've already broken my promise to her and she's desperate to only be with Melty from now on.” I said and the women in my party gasped.

“So, she will abandon everyone that cares about her, for her own selfishness that would have been months or years from happening.” Fitoria said with a sigh. “Melty is not a worthy friend to deserve your devotion, little one.”

“She won't ever leave me.” Filo said and kept hugging herself. “She won't. She won't.”

“Then I believe you and I need to spend some time together. Perhaps I can instill some sense into you.” Fitoria said and walked over to me with the invisible tendril in her arms. “Hansen, please transfer her crest to me.”

“NO!” Filo yelled and tried to stand. She wobbled and fell to her knees again. “I only want Melty to be my master!”

“And that is the first thing we need to work on.” Fitoria said. “She can't be your friend if she's your master. Having absolute power over you is not friendship. It's ownership.”

“He owns me!” Filo said and pointed to me.

“He has tried very hard not to.” Fitoria said and touched my shoulder. “Hansen...” She whispered and then she reached for my chin and turned my head to face her. “John.”

Our eyes met and there was a visible bolt of energy that made a crack sound as it passed between us.

Fitoria gasped as a magical connection immediately formed between us. “You fully understand the depths of the problem we all face!”

“I also share your view.” I said and turned as I knelt on one knee to take her small pixie-like form into an embrace. “If I can't get all of the heroes to work together, they need to be replaced to save the world. Both worlds.”

Fitoria shivered and stared into my eyes as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I never imagined... how can it... you are a miracle!”

I smiled warmly at her and let my eyes take in all of her. It was a bit of a surprise that I liked what I saw, even though I had never met anyone like her before. I was sure that it was the instant connection we had just formed and my mind processed what my eyes saw.

Fitoria had short bob-cut silver hair with thin streaks of light blue mixed in. She also had three tufts of hair that stood up vertically from the crown of her head, like cowlicks. Her eyes had red pupils and her face was small and well-composed, as if trained classically or by royalty, like Padme's.

She was dressed in a red and white Gothic Lolita-style dress with white sock-like silk boots on her feet and her wings were larger than Filo's. In fact, they looked more developed, even if her height wasn't that much higher than Filo's at only about four feet tall.

I could also tell that she was quite old and it was almost like an aura around her. “I apologize for what I am about to do.”

“No!” Filo gasped.

“I, as the sole master of Filo, whom has betrayed me for something I haven't done, hereby grant Fitoria, the Queen of the Filolials, joint control over the enhanced slave crest that Filo has worn since birth.”

Fitoria caught her breath as she was included into the sharing aspects of the slave crest Filo wore. “You have set no restrictions between you.”

“No, why would I? I wanted friends at the start and we grew into a family.” I said and looked at Filo. “Unfortunately, I was looking a bit too far into the whole situation and took my eyes away from someone I was raising.”

Raphtalia sucked in a sharp breath. “No, you can't mean...”

“I made the same mistake with my first daughter before all this started. I had thought I learned from that mistake and here I am with the same problem. I assumed I was doing a good enough job by letting her have her way and not interfering with her developing friendships. I was wrong then and I'm wrong now.” I said and looked into Fitoria's eyes. “Perhaps her new mother will be able to correct that.”

Fitoria let a smile appear on her face briefly. “I believe a mother and father need to do something first.”

I chuckled at her not so subtle hint to take her to bed. “I will do my best to not disappoint you.”

Fitoria looked at the other women. “I apologize for monopolizing him tonight. I do not want an audience or require your help.”

“I don't think you have a choice about that.” Raphtalia said and gave me a pointed look.

“I'm sorry. I can't refuse her asking for exclusivity for a night. You've all had the same request occasionally since this whole thing started.”

“I agree. We can't fault her for wanting her first time with John to be alone.” Iris said.

“All times.” Fitoria corrected. “I will not share him when we are together.”

“Wow, she's greedy.” Wyndia said with a laugh.

“I wasn't going to bring it up until the next time I visited.” Fitoria said and looked back at me. “Why am I still in the living room? Your Queen has asked you take her until she is sated. We both know it will take a while.”

“That's actually a really good point.” I said and stood as I scooped her up into my arms. “Raphtalia, Iris, Wyndia, Atla. I'll make it up to you.”

Raphtalia was the only one that looked perturbed about it.

“We're using the third floor spare room.” I said and knew I would have to do something special for her to make up for ignoring her pointed hints about not leaving me alone with the Filolial Queen. I walked out of the living room and went up the stairs. When we reached the room, I locked and silenced the door before I placed her gently on the bed and treated her with respect as I undid the back of her dress.

Fitoria looked pleased with the size of the room and the bed. “You've attended to royalty before.”

“Yes, my queen.” I said and she shivered slightly. It wasn't from having her dress opened, either. I could smell her wetness as I slipped her dress down off of her shoulders, careful of her wings, and revealed her perfectly shaped breasts that were in proportion with her tiny body. “Forgive my intrusion, your highness. I cannot resist such beauty.”

Fitoria cooed as I gently caressed and suckled her firm and perky breasts. Her nipples popped out to twice the size I had expected them to and I gave her a look. “I've not had them react like that before.”

I stopped suckling and smiled at her. “May I remove the rest of your dress and see if something else will react differently as well?”

Fitoria chittered and nodded as she laid back. She lifted her hips slightly and I pulled her dress down her legs and off completely. I wasn't surprised to see she wasn't wearing any panties.

I repeated the same statement about intrusion and beauty, then started to lick and kiss her between the legs. Fitoria screamed and had an orgasm right away. Her body seemed unable to handle too much direct pleasure, so I paused and waited for her to stop twitching before I continued. She came screaming twice more before she begged me to stop.

“I think my comment about not disappointing you was a bit too easy to prove, my queen.” I said and moved up just enough to look into her eyes. “Should we stop? I don't know if you can handle going much further.”

Fitoria was panting and sweating as she stared at me. “I've not had this before and had no idea I would react like this. Have any of your women been like this?”

“I've had their first times and they were close to reacting the same way. However, you are the first one I've had that's so proportionately smaller.”

Fitoria looked pleased by this. “Then please continue. I must experience this fully to appreciate the enormity of our bonded connection.”

I hoisted myself up onto my knees and spread her legs over my thighs.

“What are you doing?” Fitoria asked.

“Letting you see the first insertion.” I said and stroked myself into hardness.

Fitoria's eyes widened as she stared at it. “That is never going to fit! I should change into my Queen form!”

I chuckled and put a calming hand on her abdomen and cast several spells on her. Calmness, pain relief, and I also cleaned her again. She shivered as the magic flowed over her and then I rubbed my tip over her opening.

“Ohhhh! It's so hot!” Fitoria moaned and squirted a little.

I actually felt a little feedback over our connection and smiled. “If you liked that, you're going to love this.” I said and poked her hole a little.

“AHH!” Fitoria gasped and came hard. Her expulsion slicked me up perfectly and I gave her a lecherous smile as slid right inside of her in one stroke. A very loud squawk came from her mouth and she clamped down hard on me as she gushed and gushed from between her legs.

I had never had anyone react so strongly before and it was a huge turn-on for me. I hadn't used any of my techniques and she had already surpassed a dozen orgasms. The look on her face when she finally stopped coming from the full insertion, which fit us together perfectly, was worth the indignity she would accuse me later of causing her.

“You look so beautiful, my queen.” I said and picked her up to sit her on my lap to look into her eyes. “I'm going to start moving now. Prepare yourself.”

“You've already slid halfway out. How are you going to... OHHHHH!” Fitoria moaned loudly as I rocked my hips and held her cute ass with my hands and pushed her down at the same time. “Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh! OHHHHH!”

Her moans of pleasure and her constant orgasms made me want to keep going and to keep hearing those sounds. I could also feel the connection between us get stronger and stronger. Her emotional barriers fell and my own emotional restrictions seemed to fall away as we stared into each other's eyes.

“J-John... John... oh, JOHN!” Fitoria yelled and kissed me passionately.

I fell backwards onto the bed and she screamed into my mouth as I fully immersed my rock hard erection into her. She came once more and she no longer needed my help to move her hips. She let her body take over and she stared into my eyes as her little breasts jiggled and her wings spread out to their full range. She looked like she was going to take flight, even though the wings were too small to do so.

“You are... mate! My... my king! You are my true king!” Fitoria exclaimed. “Give me an egg worthy of our joining! Let our magic and our bodies prove that we want to save this world!”

I felt her magic fill me up and it practically begged me to finish inside of her. I let my own magic out and hugged her with the Force at the same time.

Fitoria screamed in pleasure and then kissed me passionately as she sped up her movements. She rode me and had one long orgasm that was really tens of orgasms combined. “NOW! NOWWWWW!”

I obliged as our magics spiked and I spilled myself into her and filled her up... and it kept going... and going. Fitoria moaned so loudly that I felt my bones vibrating with it and she gripped me so hard that I thought she had a milking machine down there instead of her womanhood.

Nearly five minutes later, she collapsed on top of me and we were both soaked with sweat and sex. Surprisingly, none of it was mine. It had all stayed inside of her and none of it had escaped.

“Can you only have one egg at a time?” I asked and she stiffened. “Because that felt like a lot more than one pregnancy.”

“I... I don't know. I've never seen more than one or two eggs in a wild filolial nest and only one survives.” Fitoria said.

“That could be a problem, because I'm sure you're going to have a clutch of eggs.” I said and she gasped. “I don't want them fighting for dominance or killing each other.”

“A clutch? I'm going to have a clutch! I've never heard of such a thing!” Fitoria said, excitedly.

“You'll need a big nest for sure.” I said. “The thing is, I don't know if you should remain in this form or change to make it easier for yourself.”

Fitoria giggled before she could stop herself. “I am about forty feet tall in my Queen form.”

I gave her a pointed look about her changing into her Queen form to have sex and she blushed.

“I wasn't really thinking properly about the logistics.” Fitoria admitted.

I laughed and she smiled demurely.

We were both quiet for several minutes before Fitoria spoke in a whisper. “You know how old I am.”

“You're about a thousand years old, give or take a few hundred years.” I said. “If you're wondering, I have no problem with that.”

“Why not?” Fitoria asked.

I temporarily copied her ability for the Age Aura and she gasped, then she shivered and came several times. “Whoa! Easy there.” I said and pet her head as I hugged her to my chest.

“Thank you for choosing me, John. I feel so privileged to be with you.” Fitoria said.

“I should have realized you would see it that way and not as me having a lot of time to make mistakes and to mess things up.” I joked.

Fitoria laughed softly. “You rarely make mistakes, John. I can feel that.” She said and her hand reached up above my chest and she ran her fingers through the aura of Force around us. “Although, the few you have made were both inconsequential and epic in scale.”

I huffed. “You've been feeling through everything I've done while I've been feeling all of you, haven't you?”

Fitoria nodded and let the Force go to hug my chest. “I can't discern anything specific, since my emotional range has changed over the years. I've spent decades as normal filolial, as the Queen, and as a human. I've forgotten more than I've ever learned in all that time.”

I turned her head to look at me. “You wanted to forget for a while, didn't you?”

“Yes. Being alone has not been good for either of us. I wanted to lose myself for a while.” Fitoria admitted. “It worked for a long time and I didn't care what happened in the world that I had been sworn to protect by the last Shield Hero.”

“Ah, I see. You had the same problem about saving the world or saving the people in it, so you wanted to forget the dilemma for a while.”

“Now it is back in the forefront of my mind and it brought me to you.” Fitoria said.

“And Filo. You expected her to take over for you.”

“Yes, and she is a disappointment. I will try to correct her assumptions; but, she has been influenced far too much for either of us to be effective quickly.”

I sighed and gave her a quick kiss. “Perhaps I should stop party sharing with her. It might surprise her enough to give you the opening you need to help her.”

Fitoria looked thoughtful for several moments. “Before I leave tomorrow to return to my hidden area and take her with me, you can try that. If I deem it is too much loss for her to handle, you will reinstate it.”

I nodded and she gave me a kiss.

“Now that I've been successfully bred, perhaps we can have fun until I'm exhausted.” Fitoria said.

“Your highness! I never expected to do anything but service your needs!” I fake gasped and she laughed softly.

“Are you going to refuse a royal command?” Fitoria asked, teasingly.

“Never, my queen.” I said and gave her a passionate kiss before I lifted her with the Force and turned her around to face away from me and sat her down on my returned erection. Her excited moans filled the room and I grabbed her hips as I used the Force to massage her breasts and pinch her nipples.

I moved her up and down at a fast pace and she started to gush out from where we were joined, which meant she really liked it this way. I sped up and she yelled in pleasure as her wings spread out and gave me a great view of her angelic form and my member moving in and out of her soaked opening.

“So beautiful.” I said and lightly stroked her back with a hand.

“OHHH!” Fitoria moaned loudly as she stopped moving and came really hard. After a few moments, she looked back at me. “Again. Do that again.”

“Yes, my queen.” I said and did so.

We didn't stop having sex until the next morning. After a great breakfast, I started Filo's punishment and she seemed to diminish when I suspended her from my party. She didn't overreact or scream at me for it, which told Fitoria that her idea would have the best chance to work. The pair walked outside and I saw a large white carriage there.

I discreetly had a Dementor suck the soul out of it as Fitoria and Filo entered it. They popped away with the carriage to return to Fitoria's hidden area and I had the image of the carriage in my head and two new Dementors. After a quick relay of their orders, they flew off to join their brethren.

“Will you tell us what happened last night?” Raphtalia asked.

“Lots of sex.” I said and she gave me a skeptical look. “We talked a little; but, it was mostly her wanting to learn how much fun it was to have sex.”

“Really?” Wyndia asked.

“She's extremely sensitive when she lets herself go, which is probably why she didn't want any witnesses or needed any help. She was perfectly satisfied with just her own body and her reactions.”

“That makes sense.” Iris said and then blushed a little. “It's taken me a long time to get used to asking for what I want and not waiting for you to figure it out.”

I chuckled and gave her a passionate kiss. “It's your turn tonight. You can ask for anything you want.”

Iris nodded and blushed a little more.

“Let's pack up and get to the wagon. The caravan will be leaving soon.” I said and they agreed.

*

Back at the castle, the large group of heroes and their party members were introduced to the recently returned Head of the Queen's Guard, Eclair Seaetto, the daughter of the deceased Lord Seaetto that had been the Queen's trusted advisor. The woman was an elite swordsman and she would be in charge of teaching everyone that used swords.

I couldn't use a sword, not even for training, so I just checked her techniques and I already had them from my time in the Matrix universe. That meant I wouldn't benefit from her training and neither would my party. I had already taught them all the same techniques. I whispered this to them and they nodded.

The next woman we were introduced to, made us laugh. It was the old woman from Ryute Village that they had met dozens of times before, especially when fighting the waves. She was apparently a master of a fighting style called Hengen Muso that used Chi or Life Force for both attacking and defending. That sounded interesting to myself and my party.

We immediately split from the other heroes and went with the old woman into a separate training area where she instructed us in the art of meditation and how to achieve balance within yourself. We all laughed again and she was confused, until we all entered a meditative state for several minutes. The old woman, named Granny for everyone's ease of remembering her name, laughed as well.

Granny then showed us several very important techniques that were essential to the fighting style. The main one was the ability to use defense-rating attacks, or attacks that increased damage to match with the target's defense, and explained the ability to reflect attacks as well, which would be immensely powerful when used with my shield. She also gave us a brief overview of the Hengen Muso Style.

It was very similar to the Chi usage and attacks from the Dragonball Z Universe, so I took to it easily and that impressed the old woman. She admitted then that she had been looking for someone to pass her knowledge onto for decades, then she said that her age matched her level.

“I'm sorry I can't really help you with that.” I said and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Ha! You sound sincere in your sorrow.” Granny said.

“If I wasn't restricted with the magic of this realm, I could create a regeneration tank to get you back into your twenty year old body in about a month.” I told her and she looked shocked. “This world severely limits what I can and can't do. I've been adjusting a few things to work with magic crystals as a power source; but, only small things are successful. Anything with too much technology inside just fizzles out.”

“I'm not sure what to say to that.” Granny said.

“Neither do we.” Raphtalia said. “The things he's already changed are mind boggling. Since he has a lot more than that, my head can't handle it.”

“They usually faint like startled goats when I try to make something that's too big.” I joked and the old woman laughed as I felt several female hands whack the back of my head. “I deserved that.”

“You always do.” Raphtalia said and kissed me. “Let's get back to training.”

*

I secretly met up with my dozens of Dementor scouts and they told me of all that they had found. I checked my Dragon Hourglass Shield and nodded as all the new spots appeared in a separate list.

“Thank you all for your hard work. This means a lot to me.” I said and created a Vassal Weapon Fan for each of them with the soul intact. The entire group shivered as they consumed them and they split into two Dementors each. “As a special treat, go around the the ruling noble houses and snack on their emotions. Those assholes need a humbling experience.”

The Dementors nodded and floated away.

“I'll never get used to them.” Queen said as she stepped away from the wall.

“They're quite useful in certain circumstances. They made a huge difference at the wave with the soul creatures.” I said and she nodded. “So, what have you got for me from the Shadow maids?”

“Odd creatures and several Melromarc citizens are being corrupted by some entity and they are attacking mostly in Lerno Village, the first one you saved from famine by giving them those enchanted magical seeds.”

I checked the teleport list and the village was at the top of the list. “My scouts report the same thing. It's my first stop. The Spirit Tortoise is making its first moves.”

Queen touched my arm and I turned to look at her. “I'm sorry my original couldn't see past her own needs and desires where you are concerned.”

I raised my eyebrows at the change in subject and then wondered if she was saying what I thought she was saying.

Queen blushed a little as she stepped forward and gave me a solid kiss. Her arms went around me and her tongue was dainty and wasn't demanding at all. Her large chest felt quite nice pressed against me and her flowery smell seemed to be a little intoxicating.

I couldn't resist a good kiss, so I returned it in the same manner and hugged her back. Before I realized what I was doing, we were both naked and I was buried deep inside of her and kissed her passionately.

Queen moaned my name and rocked her hips to let me get to all of her best spots. She was quite a good lover, even without any real training or opportunity to do so. Her original only had two children and they were decade apart. It had also been a decade since she had her youngest, Melty.

I wasn't going to let her ignorance continue, now that I seemed to have crossed an imaginary line that I thought I would never cross. I was having sex with one of my creations. That she was a beautiful woman and had a fantastic body, shouldn't have affected me. It wasn't until Queen had sucked me off and swallowed my tenth load that I realized what had happened.

“Queen Mirellia desired me, didn't she?” I asked.

Queen looked up at me with a beautiful smile on her face. “She wanted to strip you off as soon as you met.” She admitted and my eyes widened. “Her love of strong men that defied the odds and won anyway, really had her going. That you were honorable and agreeable at first, made her quite happy.”

“When I mentioned the marriage contract...” I prompted.

“She came right then. Having you in her family would have made her personally happy. The political benefits were just a bonus.” Queen said and licked my soft member. “She would love to be where I am right now.”

“At my feet and servicing me?” I asked, pointedly.

“Oh, yes. She has been looking for a man to submit to since her marriage to the old bastard.” Queen said and smiled as my erection returned. “That she was required to offer her daughters to you first, bothered her more than she would ever admit. She was as young as Melty when she met Aultcray.”

“He didn't!” I gasped.

“No, they didn't marry until she was fourteen, the legal age here.” Queen said. “Still, she was barely developed. It's why Malty is so much older than Melty. It took ten years for Mirellia to recover from the young birth.”

I reached down to stand Queen up. “I'm so sorry about that.”

Queen gave me a warm smile. “She knew you would react like that. It's why she tried so hard to manipulate you.”

“She desperately wanted me to be a part of her entourage.” I said in understanding.

“More than that. She wanted her family to be strong. With you a part of it, in any capacity, no one in the world would stand against you.” Queen said. “She knew that you can personally defeat the waves.”

I picked her up and slid myself back inside of her to make her moan. “Since I can't make love to her, with her still being married and everything, I'll have to settle for making you happy.”

“Yes! Settle with me!” Queen exclaimed and kissed me passionately.

*

The next night I jumped to Lerno Village and dealt with the turtle infections to stop the thing from creating more familiars. When a slightly odd-looking, beautiful, and sexy woman appeared before me wearing a very revealing dress and she tried to beg me to seek the giant tortoise out to kill it, I grabbed her with the Force and stopped her from running away.

“Hello, Ost.” I said and she looked surprised. “I know where your body is and what's being done with it.”

Ost made a sobbing sound and looked like she needed a hug.

I let the Force go and pulled her in for a hug. “Shh, it's okay. I know you're not what everyone thinks.”

“Sh-Shield Hero, you... you need to kill me. I can't let myself be used like this. Killing so many and not having the energy be used to defend this world, has corrupted my purpose.”

“But, the world needs you. Destroying you would mean you can't be revived later.”

“No, I... it's too late. I've been changed too much to let me continue on.” Ost said.

“Will defeating you stop your familiars?” I asked.

“Yes. Without my body, the magic creating and perpetuating the familiars will end.”

“What of you? How do I...”

“My core. My magical core. Once you destroy my head and my corrupted heart, you can access my core. Destroy it and it will all be over.”

I ran a hand through her hair and she seemed to shiver. “All right. Let's go do that right now.”

“Wh-what?” Ost asked, surprised. “You need your party and perhaps an army to distract...”

“No, I can handle it.” I said and she looked like she was going to protest. “Do you want to transport us or should I?”

“Excuse me?” Ost asked, still surprised.

I changed my shield to show an hourglass and she gasped. “Shall we go?”

Ost placed her hand on it and her other arm tightened around my neck.

I popped us right to the spot that one of my Dementors had floated in to keep an eye on the mountain-sized tortoise. “Thanks. Go have fun eating the monsters it's infected.”

The Dementor made a happy sound and quickly floated off.

“What was that thing?” Ost asked.

“Something that's quite happy to have lots to eat.” I said and she gave me a searching look. “I said monsters, not familiars. It'll tell the others and all the thousands of infected monsters will be taken care of.”

“My shell houses...”

“...a city full of people. I know.” I said and she looked sad. “It's too late for them, isn't it?”

“Yes. They are mindless zombies now and...” Ost stopped talking when a thousand Dementors floated out of the surrounding forests that the giant tortoise was very slowly stomping through. “What are they doing?”

“Feasting.” I said and waited as the Dementors made short work of all the demon bats, corrupted gorillas, yetis, floating eyeballs, caterpillar-like creatures, and the seemingly endless zombies.

Ost stood there and held onto me as she stared at the unleashed carnage. The screams of the creatures echoed through the space and the tortoise came to a stop. “He's noticed!”

“Good.” I said and gave her a quick kiss. “Wait here. I'll handle this.”

“No! I'll come with you!” Ost exclaimed and then blushed. “Why did you kiss me?”

“I was distracting you.” I said and held onto her as I flew up into the air and towards the front of the giant creature.

“No! He'll use me to destroy you!” Ost shouted.

The giant tortoise started to glow as lightning flowed over the outside. The large snapping mouth opened up and the bright glow enveloped most of the head. I almost chuckled as it channeled the elemental lightning, because it was one of my own innate abilities, thanks to my possession of Thor's ring and the Thunder Hammer.

“MOVE!” Ost yelled and tried to pull me out of the way. “I can destroy mountains with that!”

I changed my shield to the Crystal Shield. “I'm much tougher than a mountain.”

*WHHHOOAAAAA-KRACKOOOOM!*

The beam's sound cut through the death sounds of the creatures as it blasted towards me. I put my shield in front of us and tripled the size with the different shield aspects I could call forth. Just for fun, I added in the attack reversal and matched defense aspects of the Hengen Muso style. Not only did the shield absorb all of that energy and boosted me by a dozen levels, a duplicate attack appeared when the beam ended and shot right back at the tortoise.

Ost screamed as her own beam sliced through her head and then cut right down through her neck and inside to strike at her heart. Both were destroyed at the same time, so neither could regenerate and replace the other. The large animated body dropped to the ground with the sound of thunder and caused a minor earthquake. It didn't move after that and the much larger group of well fed Dementors flew off.

“I'm sorry about having to do that.” I said and held her close as I flew down through the large hole the returned beam had carved into the body. We easily reached the center of the thing and saw an odd sight. The remains of a science lab.

“What did you do to my experiments?!?” A tall man with glasses asked.

I cast Stasis on him and he shook slightly and the spell dissipated. I quickly touched him with the Force and smiled. “Spell immunity. Nice.” I said and copied the ability and gripped the man with the Force.

“What is going on? Why can't I move? I'm immune to magic! You can't hold me!”

“Just like I can't do this.” I said and created a Dementor. “The book.”

It dove at the immobile man and kissed the large book dangling from the man's belt.

“NOOO!” The man yelled as the book glowed green and then seemed to lose its gold color to become a light brown. “All my work! Ruined!”

I plucked the book from the spot and looked at the two Dementors. “One of you can have him. I'll create another when he's eaten.”

One of the Dementors grabbed the man's shoulders and he screamed before it was cut off. The Dementor ate the man's soul and the man dropped to the floor with a blank expression on his face. I tossed him into Azkaban and created a copy for the other Dementor. It fed and I dissolved the copy.

“What... what just happened?” Ost asked. She looked deathly pale and close to death.

“I took care of a threat to this world.” I said and added the book to the shield. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything except boost my already created Book Shield and didn't gain me any levels. I shrugged and carried Ost over to the center of the room where a large container full of energy was.

“This... this life force... if I hadn't been corrupted, it was a great start to gathering enough energy for me to generate a barrier strong enough to block the waves.” Ost whispered.

“Really? How do you do that?” I asked as I copied it and stored it.

She explained as I led her down the revealed corridor to her magical core.

“So, it's actually a spell and I'm unable to cast it.” I said, a little perturbed.

“Yes, only... only guardian beasts can... survive the casting.” Ost said and clung to me. “Please... please end me.”

“End you? What for?” I asked and used the Force to tear her giant core out of her dead tortoise body.

“I can't... my body... altered and...” Ost tried to explain.

“Your body might be dead; but, your spirit is strong. I'll store your core for now and I'll work on making you a new body.”

“No! I'll only be compelled to kill and destroy! It is my sole purpose on this world!”

I gave her a pointed look and she nodded. “Very well.”

“Thank you, Shield Hero.” Ost said and leaned against me. “I wish I had met you sooner. Perhaps... if things were different...”

“I understand.” I said and she looked into my eyes. “I didn't arrive on this world in time to change much that's happening. I can only work with what I have when it becomes available.”

Ost gave me a sad look and then gave me a passionate kiss.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“I was distracting you.” Ost said, repeating my line to her, and she touched my shield. She poured power into it and formed a connection with it. The Guardian Beast Shield: Tortoise unlocked and it gave me several special abilities, one of which meshed very well with my own Travelling ability.

“Ost...” I whispered at what she had done.

“With the last of my authority, and the last of my life, I grant you permission to travel between worlds. You will no longer suffer any penalties for it. I cannot counter any restrictions, as each world has its own innate laws of the universe. You will have to deal with them on your own, as you have until now.”

“I don't know what to say.” I responded.

“Do what you promised, John.” Ost said. “Save as many as you can and save this world from those that seek to destroy it, even if they are my brethren.”

It was then that I realized the connection Ost had made with my shield was quite similar to what happened between Fitoria and myself. She had chosen me as her champion and that formed a special bond on this world.

Ost's eyes widened as I pulled her dress off of her. “John, what... what...”

“Let your last physical moments be ones to remember.” I said and vanished my clothing, then I created a bed and made love to her right there.

Ost's eyes kept moving between my face and her floating magical core as she moaned and enjoyed herself. It was as if she was wondering why she was still around, until she had her very first orgasm. She didn't care about anything else after experiencing that.

An hour later, Ost was sweat soaked and clung to me as if she didn't want to ever let me go.

“John... John...” Ost whispered, her voice sad.

“Are you ready to meet your fate now?” I asked.

“Please.” Ost said and gave me a passionate kiss once more. “Thank you for letting me experience love for the very first time. I've always been hated and vilified for my role in saving the world.”

“Welcome to my life, Ost.” I said and she smiled. “All right, here we go.”

Ost watched as I brought her large core over to us and then she gasped when I shoved it into my shield. Her body flickered several times and she glowed brightly for a moment, then she stared into my eyes.

“What in the Eight Original Worlds was that?!?” Ost shouted at me.

“I removed the controlling and overbearing spirit from my shield a while ago and I guessed that I could put you in there in its place. Since the shield can manifest physical effects and your spirit can exist physically outside of your body, there was a high chance I could replace your physical anchor.”

Ost's mouth dropped open in shock.

I didn't mention that her magical core also gave me about 250 levels, direct access to the Static Magic System, and boosted my regeneration to superhuman levels. In fact, according to the help menu, I could have any part of myself blown off and could grow it back within an hour, even my head. I was not going to test that one, especially considering it might make me lose all of my Memory Halls.

“Just so you know, I have a shield that mimics your tortoise attacks.” I said and changed the shield to the Thunder Storm Shield.

“Ohhhh!” Ost moaned as she caressed the shield and it sparked lightning that flowed over her hand.

“I have a lot of shields and you're going to need time to adjust to them all.” I said as I added her Spirit Form to my party, thanks to the System access I now had. I couldn't have done it before.

“I only need you, Love.” Ost said and gave me a sexy look. “You need to upgrade your new shield.”

I chuckled and pulled her into a kiss. “We need to harvest your old body first.”

“Oh! We can raid the city on my back, too!” Ost said and looked at the shield. “I mean my old back.”

“I knew what you meant.” I said and caressed her arm.

“You're right, Love. This might take some getting used to.” Ost said and stroked the shield in the same manner.

“We can get used to it together.” I promised and she nodded. “There's still about eight hours before morning when I have to be back at the castle in Melromarc.”

Ost smiled happily and her hand moved from the shield to my crotch to get me hard again. “I ended my life in the heat of passion. I don't mind starting my new life the same way.”

*

A week later, I had gone on excursions every night to check out every spot the Dementors had given me the locations for. I gathered up six more Dragon Emperor Cores that were really only shards of a larger configuration that was used to unseal the Dragon Emperor of the world. I fed them all to my shield instead. I only needed one more to complete the thing, only I wasn't allowed to summon the dragon until the other guardian beasts were dealt with.

The day training was going well, too. Granny was so impressed with myself and my party, that she decided that we no longer needed training and only needed to practice. I couldn't let her flounder and not have someone to pass her knowledge onto, so I offered her a job at Raphtalia's rebuilt village to train the people there and to look for apprentices.

It wasn't the first kiss I've had from an old woman; but, it was the most enthusiastic one. She didn't even blush when she stopped.

“I must be losing my touch.” I said and she barked a laugh.

“I'm an old woman, Hansen. I've seen and done things you can't imagine.” Granny said.

I glanced around at my party and they all laughed.

“Go ahead and show her.” Raphtalia said. “Even I can't ignore a blatant challenge like that.”

It was my turn to laugh and then I took Granny into a tender embrace and kissed her as if she was my favorite lover and I was thanking her for going down on me for the twentieth time. She started to moan into my mouth and she hugged me back as we made out for about ten minutes.

When I broke the kiss, she was blushing from her grey hair to the bottom of her neck. Her hands also gripped my butt tightly. Of course, I hadn't let her get away with groping me during the kiss and had returned the touches in kind.

“I'm not going to ask why you're okay with grabbing my wrinkly old arse.” Granny said.

“If we weren't in public, I might have had you bent over a bed already.” I said and she made a choking sound. “No, your age doesn't bother me. Yes, I have a severe problem with polyamory.”

Granny looked around at the all the beautiful women in my party. “You are a strange, strange man.”

That made everyone laugh pretty hard.

Granny didn't sleep with me, the tease.